Batteries spark safety concerns as Teignbridge Council plans overhaul of recycling service

The risk of fires in bin lorries and tips means Teignbridge Council is no longer planning to collect batteries for recycling.

Batteries have caused eight fires in the council’s bin lorries and at its waste transfer station in recent years, three of them requiring a visit from the fire brigade.

Only a quarter of councils collect batteries for recycling, and from April 2027 Teignbridge intends to stop collecting them too.

Members of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee will meet next week (February 3), with changes to recycling services on the agenda.

A report to the meeting says the council needs to make changes to comply with the government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ reforms, which are aimed at standardising recycling services across the country.

Teignbridge already meets most of the government’s requirements, but needs to add cartons to its kerbside collections by March this year, and plastic bags and wrapping by March 2027.

A successful trial has already been carried out across hundreds of local households who put their waste plastic bags inside another large plastic bag for collection.

The favoured option – costing £185,000 in its first setup year and £64,000 in its second – is for plastic bags, wrapping and cartons to be added to the regular recycling service using existing recycling boxes. Most of the cost comes in buying and distributing the plastic bags in which other plastic can be recycled.

On the subject of batteries, the report says they accounted for one hundredth of one per cent of the council’s overall recycling. Crews often find it difficult to spot batteries among other waste, meaning they often end up travelling through the recycling machinery, increasing the risk of more fires.

The report goes on: “While the fires were contained, the potential consequences could have been devastating, creating risk to life and significant disruption to waste collection services.”