Too hot to handle: Why safe recycling requires behaviour change

The message should be clear to anyone who hadn’t already got it: our climate is changing fast, human activity is driving global warming, and our behaviour needs to change to combat the rising risks.

That same message applies to another growing fire danger our industry has been fighting for some time. Contamination of the materials we collect and process for recycling is putting our staff, facilities and essential waste services at risk.

Recycling is vital to how we, as a society, look after natural and man-made resources, cut carbon emissions and reduce waste going to landfill. But some items should never go into a standard recycling collection – they need special handling if they are to be recovered and recycled safely.

The prime risks

Lithium-ion batteries are a frequent, if not the primary, cause of fires in SUEZ facilities. Disposed of incorrectly in general waste or among recyclables, a battery is at risk of thermal runaway – a rapid self-sustaining reaction that can lead to intense fire. Batteries can be damaged at any stage in the waste management process. On collection, when crushed inside vehicles. During sorting, when machinery sorts and separates materials. Or in the waste pit or furnace of energy-from-waste plants where batteries and gas bottles can combust or explode.

Fires spread easily to surrounding combustible waste, potentially causing catastrophic damage, personal injury and serious environmental harm. These risks rise during the summer months when paper, card, plastic and other flammable items in the waste stream dry out through lack of rain. We also see more BBQs coals and charcoal, sometimes containing residual heat, discarded irresponsibly. The recent ban on the sale of disposal BBQs is welcomed but it does not go far enough. 

The holiday season adds camping gas bottles which, even when used, still contain residual liquid gas. And more nitrous oxide canisters and vapes end up in bins in parks and streets, adding to the risk of fire and explosions. Ahead of the summer, the Environmental Services Association (ESA) warned that a surge in discarded laughing-gas cylinders had led to a rise in explosions endangering the lives of waste workers.

A shared responsibility

The government alert texted this month to mobile phones across England flagged the danger of wildfires and urged people not to use disposable barbecues or take other risks. We all need to take greater care around tinder-dry shrubs, trees and grassland. Even broken glass can magnify the sun’s heat enough to ignite foliage. And sadly, some individuals aren’t just irresponsible but culpable, wilfully setting fires to cause damage and mayhem.

Public awareness and behaviour change are just as crucial in our fight to prevent waste-related fires. By recycling responsibly and disposing of waste appropriately, households and the wider public can significantly cut the risk we face and frequency of fires in our industry. One lithium-ion battery, thoughtlessly tossed into a recycling or residual waste bin, can unleash a serious fire endangering our teams, plant machinery, equipment, buildings and services. 

Our company, customers and the sector as a whole want to get across how important it is to put the right waste in the right place, every time. We’re working with local authorities and industry bodies on information campaigns to spread that message.

How we manage fire risk

Rising fire risk has been a major concern and focus of work for some time for our specialist teams for health and safety, and environmental and industrial risk (EIR) management.

They’ve developed our Zero2Five 20 strategy, which takes a holistic approach to managing fire risk, from prevention to rapid response. It calls for:

• Zero ignitions – the goal is to avoid fires starting in the first place
• 2 minutes to detect and escalate – notifying the fire department or activating fire alarms
• Five minutes to tackle the fire – when it’s safe to do so, taking no longer than five minutes to begin using our fire suppression systems or firefighting equipment
• 20 minutes to support suppression or containment until the fire brigade arrives –preparing the site to make the fire crew’s task as straightforward as possible, again without taking personal risk

This strategy is backed by investment in improved fire detection across critical facilities and in training, with the longer-term aim of rolling out automated firefighting equipment, such as automatic suppression systems, fire cannons and sprinklers.

Training and other measures

Fire awareness training is now mandatory for all SUEZ employees. We have also introduced a fire management and response training programme for supervisors and front-line workers. As well as explaining the Zero2Five20 strategy, the programme coaches colleagues in risk assessment and use of firefighting equipment. Our fire marshal course was updated this year too.

Across the business, we’ve reviewed all our operations and support functions, tightening control measures, where appropriate, and amending our Environmental Management System accordingly.

These measures include minimising waste stockpiles; regularly testing water supplies; inspecting firebreaks, firewalls and site layout; maintaining firefighting equipment; and ensuring that a ‘hot work’ permit for any task involving power tools for cutting metal or other potential flashpoints.

The wider risks to society

The ESA reported that at one waste facility, fires triggered by gas canister explosions caused £1.5 million of damage in a single year. But the impact goes far beyond the disruption to business and interrupted community services. There’s the potential for serious injury to employees, with the impact that would cause their families. The environmental toll is serious too – smoke and harmful emissions, contamination in water runoff and damage to nearby habitats and local biodiversity.

This summer’s drought conditions don’t just raise fire risk, they deepen water scarcity, which is made worse by firefighting itself, whether at waste sites or in the countryside. Both droughts and water stress are set to worsen as climate change gathers pace.

Our mission is to promote sustainable resource management within a circular economy by putting waste to good use. From effective recycling to fire prevention, our effectiveness ultimately depends on the behaviour and support of the public we serve.