More and more electrical and electronic products contain batteries, making life more convenient for us all. But were you aware those same batteries, when damaged, can cause fires?

Old lithium batteries are responsible for more than a THIRD of fires seen at waste and recycling sites. Recently, employees at SWISCo experienced a small fire at the Tor Park Road depot, caused by incorrectly presented recycled batteries.

Thankfully, due to the team’s quick and courageous response, the fire was quickly contained and extinguished and SWISCo were able to continue delivering household and businesses waste and recycling services as usual.

How can I dispose of them?

Different batteries contain a variety of different chemicals including lithium-ion, zinc, nickel cadmium and the more common alkaline. All of which can be recycled using your weekly kerbside collection.

The key to preventing fires caused by batteries is keeping them safe and separate from other materials and making sure they are easily seen by collection crews.

Here in Torbay we ask you to put your batteries into a small plastic bag, ideally a transparent one (clean used sandwich bags work well), tie the bag close and place it at the top of your recycling box where it is clearly visible.

Please do not tie the bag to the handles of your recycling boxes as this can present difficulties for the crews who use gloves whilst collecting.

Why can I not put batteries in with my other metals?

It is a misconception that batteries are recycled alongside other metals collected at the kerbside, the crews use a separate compartment on their vehicles to collect recycled batteries.

Placing batteries inside metal cans can be dangerous, which is why we ask resident not to do this and to instead bag your batteries.

Once collected and sorted metal cans are squashed into bales ready for transport. If batteries are inside cans there is a risk that during the bailing process the battery may explode and cause a fire.

Can I recycle batteries another way?

Yes, across Torbay there are battery recycling points in so many shops and community buildings for you to drop your batteries to.

We encourage the use of these collection points as they are a fantastic way to make sure that batteries do not get mixed with other materials in your boxes, therefore reducing the risk of fire.

In Torbay we also accept batteries for recycling at the Recycling Centre but remember to ‘Book your slot’ first.

We know that many people will prefer to use the kerbside recycling collections for their spent batteries and we are happy to provide this service while we can keep the risk of fire low.  After all, any batteries we collect for recycling have been saved from disposal, helping to reduce carbon impact.