October 6, 2025: The UK is facing an epidemic of fires associated with battery dumping, according to the country’s Environmental Services Association.
The ESA said on September 15 that six billion batteries were thrown away across the UK last year — equivalent to 3,000 every minute.
Of these, 1.1 billion were “hidden” in discarded electrical devices like electric toothbrushes, razors, mobile phones and electronic vapes.
The announcement came just four months after Batteries International reported UK firefighters were tackling at least three lithium ion battery fires a day, following a 93% surge between 2022 and 2024.
Now the ESA is calling for urgent reform of waste collection regulations.
When batteries, or devices containing them, are incorrectly discarded with general rubbish or other conventional recycling, they present a serious fire risk during the handling and onward processing of this waste material, ESA said.
Executive director Jacob Hayler said: “Waste fires caused by batteries not only endanger the lives of people working in essential frontline services but also destroy vital infrastructure, threaten the natural environment and undermine the vitality and viability of businesses involved in the UK’s circular economy — placing jobs and future investment at risk.
Hayler said ESA members have invested millions in safety measures to mitigate battery fires and limit the potential for damage, but the risks posed by carelessly discarded batteries are best addressed at the point of disposal.
This requires an urgent systemic shift in the post-consumer management of batteries and devices containing them, driven by new policy and regulation, the association said.
“The current collection system for waste electricals and electronic equipment and waste batteries is clearly inadequate for safely dealing with the proliferation of these items today, let alone into the future.”
ESA is calling on policymakers to implement universal, producer-funded, kerbside collections for batteries and small waste electrical across England.
According to the UK’s National Fire Chiefs Council, more than 1,200 battery-related fires occurring in refuse vehicles or waste facilities over a 12-month period between 2023/24.
ESA said this represented an increase of more than 70% in similar incidents from the preceding 12 months.
Last June, European firms warned that insurance companies are increasingly refusing to cover waste management facilities, or hiking the cost of premiums, amid a surge in fires caused by discarded lithium batteries.
In Germany alone, waste collection trucks were being hit by up to 30 fires a day, while it was estimated that lithium batteries were the root cause of 180-240 fires annually in Austrian waste plants.
