A spate of lithium battery fires at the Richmond Resource Recovery Centre have highlighted the danger of improper disposal and reinforced why used batteries are no longer accepted at council service centres.
Last month, a customer delivering a large quantity of batteries to the Richmond site was placing them into a battery collection bin with the help of a staff member when one of the batteries ignited.
The fire caused battery components to be thrown into the air, forcing the customer to quickly move their vehicle away from the collection area.
Staff responded promptly and brought the incident under control. No staff or customers were injured.
The incident was captured on CCTV, with footage showing the intensity of the blaze.
The fire has highlighted key safety concerns and reinforced why batteries can no longer be received at service centres.
The circumstances surrounding the battery failure are being reviewed to identify opportunities to improve battery handling and fire risk management procedures.
People with unwanted batteries are urged to take them to their nearest resource recovery centre in Richmond, Māriri, Murchison, Collingwood or Tākaka and use the specially designed battery disposal bins.
A second fire occurred on Wednesday, 23 September. A council spokesperson says the compactor pod was smoking and rubbish was emptied out of the pod and extinguished.
A third fire occurred just after 2.30pm on Saturday, 26 September when staff at the centre noticed a small blaze in the waste compactor, which compresses general waste into containers for transport to landfill.
Staff immediately began extinguishing the fire and called 111. The waste container was removed from the compactor and taken to a safe area where the material was tipped out and fully extinguished by firefighters.
The site was closed for just more than an hour while staff and firefighters dealt with the incident. No one was injured, although there was superficial damage to the transport bin.
While the exact source could not be identified, the fire is believed to have been caused by a lithium battery disposed of in the general waste stream.
Businesses and organisations needing to dispose of batteries are advised to arrange commercial disposal through companies such as EnviroNZ and Nelson Marlborough Waste.
