Fires at recycling centres caused by wrongly discarded lithium batteries such as those found in vapes are occurring at the rate of more than ۱۰ a week, according to new figures.
Experts say the sheer volume of battery fires now occurring at waste facilities has reached a crisis that is putting lives at risk, costing £۱bn a year and frustrating fire chiefs.
In figures shared with the Guardian, the Environment Services Association (ESA), the trade body for waste management companies, said its members had reported ۱,۵۱۸ fires in the year to March ۲۰۲۶. At least ۵۴۱ of these fires were directly attributed to lithium ion batteries, the survey found. There were a further ۲۱۶ battery fires in bin lorries.
The ESA said the reported number of battery-related fires underestimated the scale of the problem, because in most incidents it was impossible to determine the cause of the blaze. A spokesperson said: “We know ۴۰% of fires at recycling centres are caused by batteries, but we think the actual number is more like ۷۰%.”
It estimates that annual cost of these fires has increased from £۱۵۰m in ۲۰۲۱ to £۱bn today. The cause of this week’s blaze at a recycling centre in Deptford, south-east London, has yet to be determined. It was the latest in a series of fires at recycling centre and bin lorries, many of which have been blamed on batteries, particularly those in vapes. They include: Ilford in east London; Caerwent in Monmouthshire; Widnes in Cheshire; Glasgow; Costessey near Norwich, and Dereham in Norfolk.
Fire chiefs have been alarmed by the rise in this type of blaze and the resources needed to put them out.
After the Ilford fire, which took ۲۵ firefighters to control, a spokesperson for London fire brigade said: “We’ve seen a growing number of fires at waste disposal sites that are believed to have been caused by a lithium battery.”
“Fires that we attend at sites like recycling centres and scrap yards can be very time consuming for our firefighters and often require a high level of resources to put the fire out. We’ve also seen the detrimental environmental and societal impact these fires can have on local communities.”
Dr Francesco Restuccia, a fire expert at King’s College London, said: “There has been exponential increase in fires at recycling centres, mainly because we are using and discarding lithium batteries in everyday objects like smartphones, children’s toys, toothbrushes and vapes. If they are not disposed off properly there’s a high chance of ignition.”
Explaining what happens when a lithium battery gets crushed, Restuccia said: “If the separator is pierced – which happens a lot at recycling centres – it creates a lot of internal short circuits in the battery, causing the temperature to increase until it reaches ignition point.”
The ESA commissioned the Health and Safety Executive to test what happens when a vape battery is punctured while next to paper and card. Video of the experiment, shared with the Guardian, showed the vape igniting like a sparkler and setting alight the paper and card. Temperatures of the vape reached more ۷۵۰C in the experiment and became hot enough to ignite paper for two minutes.
The ESA hopes the experiment will demonstrate the need to safely dispose vapes to policymakers and the public. The waste management company Biffa said it has recovered ۵۰۰,۰۰۰ vapes at its facilities this summer alone.
The ESA is calling for a £۵ deposit scheme on the sale of all vapes to ensure that vape users have an incentive to return used devices to retailers for safe disposal.
Patrick Brighty, the head of recycling policy at the ESA, said: “Battery fires are reaching epidemic proportions across Britain’s recycling and waste industry, placing workers at risk and threatening vital infrastructure upon which we all rely every day.
“It only takes a single battery hidden in household rubbish or recycling to cause a huge fire and decimate a facility. The total cost of battery fires now exceeds £۱bn a year, with huge knock-on implications for insurance costs.
“Vapes are among the biggest culprits because they’re cheap, abundant and typically have a short use-life. ESA and others across our industry are calling on the government to implement a mandatory deposit scheme for vapes to incentivise users to return them safely back to the point of purchase so they can be recycled properly and away from other waste.”
