Disposable vapes are causing at least five fires a day inside Queensland recycling plants alone, according to industry experts.
Key points:
- Illegally imported Chinese vapes are sparking many of the fires
- Rick Ralph says governments are refusing to take responsibility
- The waste and recycling industry is calling for a national collection scheme
National Waste and Recycling Industry Council CEO Rick Ralph said the fire risk had reached crisis levels across the country.
He said the Queensland figure can be multiplied by seven when taking a toll of the national risk.
“That’s about 35 fires a day, in some form, in recycling facilities,” Mr Ralph said.
“It is directly attributed to lithium-ion batteries because there is no effective and no easy, proper disposal for those items.
“A vape has an embedded battery in it and more than 1.8 million are being dumped into general waste every week.”
Mr Ralph cited a recent senate inquiry that found an estimated 90 million unregulated, illegal Chinese vapes a year have been flooding into Australia with no product standards, no packaging requirements and no safety standards.
“Once they get into a truck or into a recycling facility, they get crushed through compacting and the heat then generates and off they go and we can get a fire,” he said.
“We are profoundly concerned as there have also been fires in garbage trucks.
“We believe everything with an embedded lithium-ion battery, these toxic materials, should be declared a dangerous good and banned from waste and recycling bins.
“We have been trying to get traction from government at every level of every state and federally but unfortunately we have just got crickets.”
However, this week the federal government banned single-use vapes from being imported into Australia. The ban will come into effect early next year.
The industry wants government to initiate a national collection scheme funded by a small impost on each product at point of sale.
This year, the Townsville City Council in north Queensland said there had been five fires at the city’s landfill, six at the recycling facility and 33 smouldering events.
The council’s resource recovery officer, Amelia Chaplin, said the fires were all due to members of the public incorrectly disposing of things like power tool batteries and vapes.
“It presents a massive safety risk to our truck drivers and facility staff,” she said.
Improper disposal of batteries in household recycling is also the suspected cause of a fire that destroyed Canberra’s recycling plant on Boxing Day last year, according to an investigation conducted by ACT Fire & Rescue.
Santa sack e-gifts could be a risk
It’s not just batteries being wrongly dumped into bins that can cause a fire risk.
Recharging or over-charging can also lead to a “catastrophic” ignition, according to leading forensic fire investigator Marty Denham.
“Santa’s sack will be full of gifts like portable power tools, battery-operated coffee machines, vacuum cleaners, leaf blowers, laptops, mobile phones, e-scooters and e-bikes,” Mr Denham said.
He said people were charging batteries inside cupboards, garages and near combustible materials, despite safety warnings.
The uptake of cheap generic “knock off” batteries was also a concern.
“It is all about quality and the failure rate presented by the quality of a product,” he said.
“For example, I am quite happy to charge my smart phone while I sleep at home at night, it is a quality product and has a battery management system that monitors the battery and therefore the failure rate is quite low – never zero, but a one in 100,000 failure rate for a quality product.”
But he said with generic batteries the failure rate falls dramatically to one in 10,000 and each battery cell in a battery pack represents a potential for failure.
“An e-scooter may have 100 battery cells, so the ‘real’ battery failure rate is more like one in 1,000,” he said.
“For me that is an unacceptable risk. I would not risk having a product like that charged inside my home. They can go off like a hand grenade.”
Using a metal box for charging
In Mr Denham’s forensic laboratory, a tall metal locker with 10 separate compartments is proving a game changer when it comes to safety.
“I have made this specifically with a socket outlet in the back so I can put the whole charger and battery pack inside here and close it up, knowing if it fails, it is not going to burn the house down,” he said.
“You may get some flames coming out through the cracks but it is going to contain the majority of it safely.
“You can also introduce a cord extension and push it through the vents to provide power through an electric socket. That way you can still put the whole battery pack inside the metal enclosure and lock it.”
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Mr Denham said he can charge, or safely store, 10 lithium-ion batteries at once.
“If you are a tradesman in particular, you are going to have a lot of cordless power tools and you charge them at the end of every day and you just need to find a solution so you can do that safely.”
He said a metal enclosure can be handmade, similar to transforming an old school locker, but that it needs to be vented.
Fires are caused by a chain reaction within a battery cell, called a “thermal runway”, which can be difficult to stop once it starts.
With temperatures rising in milliseconds, the energy stored in the battery is released very suddenly – so it explodes.
Deaths linked to recharging batteries
In March, a caravan fire at Logan, south of Brisbane, killed 22-year-old Blake Whell.
Firefighters found an exploded e-scooter battery at the scene.
Last October, two French backpackers barely escaped a blast at a Sydney hostel — they were recharging a lithium battery inside their crammed room.
Two e-scooter fires in Brisbane and Logan last year were also believed to have been caused by charging batteries.
Max Chirila, 6, died in a house fire at Clayfield in April last year.
Investigators found three charging lithium-ion batteries at the scene.
On Friday police established a crime scene after a blaze at the Brisbane Gold Club at Yeerongpilly. Authorities are investigating whether a charging station was the cause.
Queensland’s chief fire safety officer Superintendent Mark Halverson expressed alarm at the growing number of battery fires over the past three years.
He warned it was dangerous to borrow someone else’s charger as it may not be compatible.
“Charging overnight while people are sleeping is also very high risk,” Superintendent Halverson said.
“Even when charging in daylight hours, you must ensure you have oversight of the charger.
“And with e-scooters, don’t charge when they have recently been ridden — give them time to cool down and don’t charge in sunlight.
“Because all of those things increase the risk of a fire or an explosion.”
Lithium-ion battery usage on the rise
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) warns that by 2026 there will be 33 devices powered by lithium-ion batteries in every Australian household.
“We are concerned by increasing reports of lithium-ion battery fires resulting in property damage and serious injuries, including burns, chemical exposure and smoke inhalation,” ACCC deputy chair Michael Keogh said.
The consumer watchdog has received 231 product safety reports relating to lithium-ion batteries in the past five years.
It had also initiated 23 recalls, affect an estimated 89,000 products.
Mr Keogh warned against complacency.
“Check your lithium-ion batteries for overheating, signs of swelling, leaking or venting gas and immediately stop using your product if these signs are present,” he said.
“While lithium-ion battery fires are increasing, it is likely incidents are under-reported because of issues with how information is collected and shared.”
An ACCC national voluntary survey of more than 4,000 Australians found 54 per cent of respondents used after-market chargers and 39 per cent did not know how to correctly dispose of lithium-ion batteries.
The ACCC advises consumers to do the following:
- Monitor charging times
- Disconnect batteries when charged
- Consider setting a timer
- Do not use batteries that are overheating or show signs of leaking or venting gas
- Be wary of cheap online batteries
- Allow batteries to cool before re-use
- Tape battery terminals with clear sticky tape
The Commonwealth-backed Battery Stewardship Council promotes the safe recycling of lithium-ion batteries and maintains a list of accredited depots across the country.