Post-Christmas clear out? Banish batteries from your bin bags

With three fires at recycling centres across the county over the weekend, residents are being reminded to remove batteries from toys and keep gas lighters/flammable liquids out of their general waste.
Old fire lighting equipmentOld fire lighting equipment
Old fire lighting equipment

John Coates, head of waste at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “Now is the perfect time to have a post-Christmas sort out, but please, before you head to your local recycling centre, take a few minutes just to separate out all the batteries and fire lighting equipment.

“In the past few days, we’ve had fires at Louth, Spalding and Sleaford.

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“One of these was caused by old fire lighting equipment which had been put in a black bin bag in the general waste compactor. Luckily, we spotted it quickly and the fire was extinguished.

Batteries which have been found in bags of non recyclables . These should be removed and put in the battery collection pointsBatteries which have been found in bags of non recyclables . These should be removed and put in the battery collection points
Batteries which have been found in bags of non recyclables . These should be removed and put in the battery collection points

“If you have flammable liquid, lighters or gas please just let us know, we will put these in a separate area.

“Please also take a few minutes to take out batteries from games controllers, toys, TV remotes, mobile phones etc. We have a separate collection for these at all of our recycling centres. These are highly flammable if they end up in the compactors.”

Find out more about Household Waste Recycling Centres opening times and what can be recycled by visiting www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/recycling-and-waste .