Regardless of being a identified situation for literal years, rubbish vans maintain going up in flames as a consequence of folks improperly disposing of lithium-ion batteries. Again in late Might, a rubbish truck caught fireplace in Brooklyn, reasonably injuring two Division of Sanitation employees, in response to PIX11. A division spokesperson stated a lithium-ion battery was the seemingly offender regardless of it being unlawful to throw lithium-ion batteries within the trash or recycling.
Per the Nationwide Fireplace Safety Affiliation, New York Metropolis alone noticed a complete of 800 lithium-ion battery fires that resulted in 30 deaths and 400 accidents between 2022 and 2025. Throw one—or an previous gadget that occurs to have one, reminiscent of a laptop computer, cellphone, or energy instrument—right into a rubbish truck that mechanically crushes no matter is thrown into it, and you’ve got a recipe for some very poisonous, very fast fires. This sort of battery’s flammable nature, by the best way, is why the TSA has restrictions in the case of storing them in checked baggage.
Lithium-ion-trash-truck fires have been an ongoing bugbear for sanitation departments, not simply in NYC, however throughout the nation for years. The Metropolis of Roseville close to Sacramento, for instance, lately noticed its fourth rubbish truck catch fireplace this yr lately for this very purpose, in response to CBS Information. The hearth division in Troy, Michigan, in the meantime, lately posted this rubbish truck that needed to dump its load onto the street after a pile of batteries inside began catching fireplace.
The science and answer
With out this turning right into a full-on chemistry lecture, lithium-ion batteries catch fireplace when a brief circuit happens internally, typically triggered by bodily harm that breaks the separator preserving the battery’s anode and cathode aside. This creates instantaneous warmth, which might causes the electrolyte to chemically decompose, releasing flammable gases, and potential ignition.
So, in case you should not throw lithium-ion batteries out within the trash, what must you do with them? The reply will finally rely in your particular municipality, however in NYC a minimum of, you need to deliver them to one of many hundreds of devoted drop-off websites, which yow will discover right here with this Battery Community on-line locator instrument. Taking a cursory look on the community in Manhattan, there are certainly fairly a number of round, and quite a bit appear to be situated inside Staples shops and Duane Reade pharmacies. Batteries must be bagged (Battery Community can present some) or you possibly can cowl the optimistic terminals with tape.
Sort of a problem? Certain. But when it saves even one native sanitation employee’s literal pores and skin, it is most likely price it.
