Council suspects batteries behind blaze at landfill

Wednesday, 7 July 2021

The cause of a mystery landfill fire on Monday is still not clear, but the council suspects batteries may be behind the blaze.

The fire broke out at the Tākaka Resource Recovery Centre just after 9am on Monday and required fire crews from Tākaka, a specialist Hazardous Materials Unit from Nelson, and heavy machinery to put it out.

The fire was in a refuse compactor container which was being filled with rubbish destined for the landfill. It forced the closure of the centre for several hours.

Tasman District Council said on Wednesday that the cause of the fire could not be determined, but “it is suspected it was caused by discarded batteries from electronic equipment or a cellphone”.

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“Lithium-ion batteries supply power to many kinds of devices, including smart phones, laptops, e-bikes, scooters, e-cigarettes, smoke alarms, toys, and even cars but if they are not disposed of correctly, they can overheat, catch fire, or explode.”

Council stormwater and waste management team leader David Stephenson said the dumping of old batteries was an increasing problem across the region.

“All Tasman Resource Recovery Centres are equipped to receive batteries for correct disposal, while old cellphones can be returned to retailers,” he said in the council’s statement.

“It is vital that people think about how they get rid of electronic waste and keep batteries out of bins.”

Tākaka chief fire officer Philip Woolf said on Monday that because of the potential for contaminants, it was treated as a “potential hazardous substance incident” and firefighters decontaminated afterwards.