Ballina Shire Council is urging residents not to put hazardous materials in any kerbside bin, following a fire at the Resource Recovery Centre last weekend.
A large blaze, smoke, and loud bangs were noticed coming from the recycling dome at the Ballina Resource Recovery Centre just before midnight Saturday 26 October.
While the exact cause of this fire is unknown, multiple loose batteries, items with embedded batteries, gas bottles, and chemical containers were found once the blaze was extinguished.
Ballina Council says these items are all classed as hazardous waste and should not be placed in any kerbside bin.
Fires
This problem is not unique to Ballina, with at least three reported battery fires across Australia each day.
‘We are extremely relieved that no community members or staff were injured but the fire has done significant damage to the recycling dome within our Resource Recovery Centre,’ said Lloyd Isaacson, Manager Asset Management and Resource Recovery.
‘It’s also disappointing to see so much hazardous waste is still incorrectly being placed in kerbside bins. This incident isn’t the first fire we’ve experienced, but it’s definitely the worst,’ he said.
‘We’ve had regular occurrences of small fires in our collection vehicles, at the Resource Recovery Centre and at our recycling facility. Typically, these are from lithium-ion batteries and items with embedded batteries like vapes.
‘We hope this fire will be a reminder to all residents that they must dispose of hazardous household waste like batteries, gas bottles, vapes and chemicals at our Resource Recovery Centre. It’s free and we are open seven days week,’ said Mr Isaacson.
What’s the risk?
Ballina Council says placing batteries and other dangerous items in kerbside bins puts waste staff, facilities, our environment, and each other at risk. Properly disposing of these items takes a little more effort, but the risk is simply too great not to.
If a fire starts in a kerbside bin, it has the potential to spark fires in the surrounding areas, even jumping to a house, which occurred in Adelaide earlier this year.
Fires or explosions in collection trucks can harm nearby people, collection drivers, or damage or destroy the truck entirely.
If a fire is not quickly extinguished at a recycling facility, it can cause significant damage or the loss of an entire facility, like Canberra’s Boxing Day fire in 2022, leading to millions of dollars of damage and environmental harm from the burning of plastics and other materials.
Hazardous or dangerous items you should NEVER put in kerbside bins include:
- Batteries (small or large)
- Any item containing a battery
- Vapes or e-cigarettes
- Gas bottles (full or empty)
- Chemicals
- Flares
Luckily, these items can all be properly disposed of for free across a range of locations.
What else?
The Ballina Resource Recovery Centre accepts household or car batteries. More options for household, button, or rechargeable batteries include any B-cycle location, such as supermarkets and Bunnings.
You find spots to dispose of old mobile phones at Mobile Muster Recycle.
The Ballina Resource Recovery Centre accepts computers, computer parts, TVs and accessories, including e-waste (please remove batteries if easily removable and dispose of them appropriately). The Centre also accepts gas bottles, fire extinguishers and vapes.
Embedded batteries are permanently placed inside an item with no easy way of being removed and are found in everyday items including:
- Bluetooth speakers and headphones
- electric toothbrushes
- e-scooters, e-bikes and hover boards
- flashing/light up toys – particularly wands or other hard plastic products
- personal care devices (eg. shavers)
- powerpacks and portable charging devices
- remote controlled and ride-on toys
- vacuum cleaners (cordless hand-held and robotic)
- vapes
- wearable devices such as smart watches, trackers and medical aids.
The government is currently working out the best way to help residents easily and safely dispose of these common items at their end-of-life, which are also one of the most common sources of battery fires.
An embedded battery trial is happening now at 21 locations across NSW, including Lismore.
You can bring these items into the Lismore Community Recycling Centre for free, find out more here.
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