Christchurch City Council’s resource recovery team has seen a big increase in fires in kerbside collection trucks and at processing facilities this year. There have been 42 fires across the city's collection and processing facilities since 2020, including eight so far this year.
Council contractors have also been finding more hazardous items like batteries and gas bottles in kerbside loads, which cause and contribute towards the fires.
"This year we’ve had six fires at the EcoDrop transfer stations, one at the recycling facility and one recycling truck fire - possibly started by batteries,” said resource recovery manager Dr Alec McNeil.
"It’s an added risk when a gas bottle is thrown into the mix, as these can explode when a fire starts."
McNeil said 2230 gas bottles were removed from loads delivered to the EcoSort recycling facility in the 2023/24 period – a 471 per cent increase in numbers on the previous year.
"When a driver takes a gas bottle onboard in their kerbside collection it poses such a high risk that they immediately need to take the load to the EcoSort recycling facility, interrupting and delaying their collection route," McNeil says.
"If a fire starts in a collection truck on route the truck must dump the entire load on the nearest clear space, likely the street, for Fire and Emergency NZ to respond to.
"Neither batteries or gas bottles should be placed in your rubbish or recycling bin, and when mixed together they can pose a huge risk for our Waste Management staff.
"Please take the time to correctly dispose of these items at our hazardous waste drop off, free of charge."
- Hazardous items, including household batteries, car batteries, lithium power tool batteries, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, used car oil, cooking oil and paint, can be disposed of for free at the EcoDrop Resource Recovery Centres
