East Riding residents are being reminded never to throw their disposable vapes in household bins after the latest fire in a rubbish collection lorry.
A quick-thinking bin crew from East Riding of Yorkshire Council has been praised for dumping a pile of around two tonnes of smouldering rubbish after the load in their truck caught fire on Thursday (23 January) while they were on a regular round in Little Weighton, near Cottingham.
Firefighters had to be called to put out the rubbish, which had to be unloaded in a nearby, secure pub car park, away from residents and buildings.
The crew were unhurt, and no damage was caused to the lorry, but the blue bin waste destined to be recycled was destroyed. Another lorry had to complete the round.
The cause of the fire is once again being blamed on sparks from a battery inside a single use or disposable vape which had been thrown in a bin.
The incident follows a number of fires in waste collected by bin lorries and at household waste recycling sites in the East Riding over the past few years, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
The last to happen was a fire at Carnaby’s household waste recycling site in September 2024, the second at that site.
Residents are being reminded that vapes, batteries and anything containing them, should be taken to household waste recycling sites which have special bins in order to recycle them safely.
Councillor Paul West, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said:
“Please never ever put vapes or batteries of any type in your household bins. We have said this so many times.
“It’s a careless and dangerous thing to do because they are causing far too many fires in our waste and recycling materials.
“Thankfully no one was hurt and the lorry wasn’t damaged. I’m full of praise for this bin crew for their fast actions in preventing this incident from becoming much worse than it was.”
The remains of the rubbish from the fire will now be sent to a plant to be burned to generate electricity, along with other general household waste, instead of being recycled.
Fires like this are caused when batteries spark when they come into close contact with machinery.
From June 2025, single use or disposable vapes will be banned from sale in the UK.
For advice about what can and can’t be recycled and where rubbish can be disposed of visit https://www.eastriding.gov.uk/bins or download the East Riding of Yorkshire Council app from your mobile app store.
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