November 24, 2025: London’s four largest waste authorities and several waste management organizations have urged the UK government to urgently overhaul battery disposal regulations in response to a surge in lithium fires across the capital.
Battery fires continue to have a real financial impact on struggling local authorities and the public purse, at estimated costs in excess of £1 billion ($1.3 billion) annually, the organizations said in a letter to environment minister Mary Creagh on November 12.
Signatories to the letter, including North London Waste Authority chair Clyde Loakes, said there was a 53% increase in incidents between 2023 and 2024 at waste processing sites serving North London.
Sites in the east of the capital reported a near 60% rise over the same period and the capital’s Western Riverside Waste Authority recorded eight fires in 2024/25 and has already logged 10 incidents so far in 2025/26.
The letter said disposal organizations welcomed recently introduced regulations governing waste electrical and electronic equipment. However, many lithium ion batteries and chargers sold via third-party sellers originate overseas, where safety standards may be lower or poorly enforced.
“Without strengthened controls at the border and better enforcement of import standards, unsafe products will continue to enter the UK market and end up in homes, workplaces, and ultimately, the waste stream, fuelling further fire risk and undermining the aims of the new regulations.”
Greater strategic direction from government is now required, including a review of battery regulations to encourage proper disposal and improved recycling rates, the letter said.
The call for action came just weeks after the UK’s Environmental Services Association (ESA) warned of an epidemic of fires associated with battery dumping.
The ESA said in September 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.
