The shocking figure comes just months after Somerset Council issued fire safety tags to all blue recycling bags across the county, reminding residents not to include gas canisters, vapes, or batteries in with their regular recycling. The small canisters, mainly used for camping gas stoves, are often mistakenly put in the kerbside recycling ‘Bright Blue Bag’, which can be used to recycle empty aerosol bottles such as hair spray or deodorant, but should never be used to dispose of gas canisters. In the past year ten fires have started at SUEZ’s material recovery facilities or within trucks, including at Taunton Recycling Centre in October. All of these fires have reportedly broken out when hazardous materials including large and household batteries, as well as gas canisters, have mistakenly gone through the baling process. SUEZ's hazardous recycling reminder to Somerset residents

Source: Express May 31, 2024 09:21 UTC