J&B News & Updates

11.05.26

Last week, one of our collection vehicles caught fire whilst out on its recycling round after what is believed to have been a vape or lithium battery had been incorrectly placed inside a recycling bin.

Thankfully, nobody was injured, but the incident delayed collections, damaged the vehicle and put our driver and crew in a dangerous situation whilst the fire was brought under control.

Sadly, this is not a one-off incident. Fires caused by vapes and lithium batteries are becoming an increasing issue across the waste and recycling industry, with waste companies across the UK reporting hundreds of fires linked to batteries and incorrectly disposed of vapes every year.

Despite the recent disposable vape ban, around 6 million vapes and pods are still being thrown away every week across the UK, with many continuing to end up in recycling and general waste bins.

Jonathan Wood, Driver at J&B Recycling, said:

“People don’t realise the damage one vape can cause until you’re stood watching smoke come out the back of the wagon.”

Vapes contain lithium batteries. When these batteries are crushed during collection or processing, they can rapidly overheat and ignite. With highly combustible recyclable materials such as paper and cardboard surrounding the load, fires can spread quickly through collection vehicles and recycling facilities.

At our facilities, our teams regularly remove vapes from recycling loads by hand before they reach MRF equipment and throughout the process, to reduce the risk of fires onsite. However, these items should never have entered the recycling stream in the first place.

The process of recycling vapes is also far from quick or efficient. In many cases, devices have to be dismantled by hand so the different materials can be separated safely. Whilst vapes contain valuable materials such as aluminium, copper and other recyclable metals, these materials can only be recovered properly when the devices are disposed of correctly and processed separately.

Many reusable vapes are also still being treated as disposable items and thrown away after only a small amount of use.

Although retailers and shops which sell vapes should offer a take-back scheme for customers, many still do not, leaving consumers with limited disposal options and confusion around how these items should be recycled safely.

We are continuing to urge residents and businesses across the North East to think carefully about how they dispose of vapes and battery-powered items.

Vapes should never be placed in recycling bins or general waste bins. Instead, they should be taken to a designated vape or battery recycling point, which can often be found at supermarkets, participating vape retailers and household waste recycling centres.

Correct disposal helps protect our teams, vehicles, facilities and the wider recycling process from preventable fires and damage. For more information on Why are vapes bad for the environment?