Christchurch City Council has issued a reminder to residents about how to dispose of hazardous items correctly, after a spate of fires in kerbside collection trucks and processing facilities this year.
There have been 42 fires across Council collection and processing facilities since 2020, including eight so far this year.
The Council says its contractors have been increasingly finding hazardous items like batteries and gas bottles in kerbside loads.
“This year we’ve had six fires at the EcoDrop transfer stations, one at the recycling facility and one recycling truck fire – possibly started by batteries,” says Resource Recovery Manager, Alec McNeil.
“It’s an added risk when a gas bottle is thrown into the mix, as these can explode when a fire starts.”
Staff removed 2,230 gas bottles from loads delivered to the EcoSort recycling facility in the 2023/24 period – a 471% increase in numbers on the previous year.
The gas bottles include LPG, helium, soda stream bottles, butane canisters and fire extinguishers. There has also been an increase in nitrous oxide cans appearing in the form of large cream cannisters used by professional caterers.
“When a driver takes a gas bottle onboard in their kerbside collection it poses such a high risk that they immediately need to take the load to the EcoSort recycling facility, interrupting and delaying their collection route,” Dr McNeil says.
If a fire starts in a collection truck on route the truck must dump the entire load on the nearest clear space, likely the street, for Fire and Emergency NZ to respond to.
“Neither batteries or gas bottles should be placed in your rubbish or recycling bin, and when mixed together they can pose a huge risk for our Waste Management staff.”
“Please take the time to correctly dispose of these items at our hazardous waste drop off, free of charge.”
Hazardous waste can be disposed of at Council’s EcoDrop Resource Recovery Centres for no cost. This includes household batteries, car batteries, lithium power tool batteries, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, used car oil, cooking oil and paint.
