The fire-damaged loading vehicle at the waste station

A FIRE at a waste disposal site in Hornsey has prompted warnings about the dangers of incorrectly disposing of batteries that are found in vapes and electronic devices such as phones and laptops.

A lithium-ion battery that had been thrown into a household bin exploded after it was driven over by a loading vehicle at Hornsey Street Waste Transfer Station on Christmas Eve, covering the vehicle in flames within seconds.

This week, Waltham Forest councillor and chair of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) – which runs the Hornsey Street site – Clyde Loakes, said: “Fires at our facilities have more than doubled in the past few years, with the latest one causing significant damage to assets and infrastructure, as well as costly service disruption. It is very fortunate nobody was hurt.”

Cllr Loakes told how the old or damaged batteries can reach up to 800 degrees when they overheat, releasing toxic fumes. And while consumers must be more careful to dispose of them correctly, “real change” can only happen through policy interventions that put more responsibility on producers, he added.

NLWA has since written to local MPs and led a discussion at the House of Commons to highlight the danger of the discarded batteries.

Residents can recycle electrical waste at specific locations found on the Recycle Your Electricals website.