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Batteries don’t go in any of your bins at home. Old batteries may seem ‘dead’ but they can still cause fires if you don’t dispose of them properly. They can be crushed in bin lorries or waste sorting plants and start fires.

It’s not just traditional batteries which can cause fires. Many items contain hidden batteries such as laptops, phones, shavers and electric toothbrushes. There are also a huge amount of vapes and electric cigarettes which are being thrown in bins at home and causing fires.

Don't bin batteries

BBC Morning Live did a segment on the importance of disposing of batteries correctly, if you missed it catch up below:

Between April and June 2023 there were 37 fires during bin collections and at recycling centres in the UK.

Never bin batteries or electrical items

The seriousness of putting batteries in bins is highlighted in the video below:

Recycling batteries is as easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Does it have batteries?

Don’t throw it in either your black or green bin! items such as laptops, mobile phones, electronic toys, Bluetooth devices, shavers, electric toothbrushes, chargers and vapes all have batteries that might not be easy to remove

2. Store it properly

Store your items until you can take to your nearest Household Recycling Centre

3. Recycle it safely

Take your items to a Household Recycling Centre and place in the small electrical recycling container. Vapes have their own recycling boxes at all sites now. Visit our Household Recycling Centre page for your nearest facility

If you cannot access a Household Recycling Centre, there are other options.  For your nearest electrical recycling point visit.

Vape recycling

Our residents are now able to recycle their vapes at their local Household Recycling Centre in a bid to reduce the amount that end up in the black bins.

Research released last year by Material Focus showed that 5 million vapes are disposed of each week in the UK, yet only 17% of the people polled for the research said they recycle their vapes.  These vapes contain valuable materials including a total of 10 tonnes of lithium, which when recycled is enough to produce the batteries for 1200 electric vehicles.

All of the Household Recycling Centres have a dedicated tub which the whole vape can be put into and they are then sent for recycling.