A garbage-truck fire prompted a response in Slidell.
St. Tammany Fire Protection District #1 was involved in the response to the garbage-truck fire.
A Familiar Hazard for Sanitation Crews
Improperly discarded lithium-ion batteries have become an increasingly common hazard in garbage trucks over the past decade, according to a guide published by bond4waste.com. The same guide notes that when these batteries get crushed inside a truck or damaged during collection, they can ignite with little warning.
The risk isn't unique to Louisiana. Officials in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, reported two separate garbage-truck fires on the same day, both blamed on lithium-ion batteries that had been tossed into regular trash, according to a notice posted by Ridgefield Park. In one of those incidents, a battery reportedly exploded in a public works employee's face, though the worker was not seriously injured. Crews in that case had to dump the contents of both trucks into the street just to put the flames out.
What Waste Haulers Say Can Help
The bond4waste.com guide suggests waste companies can reduce this kind of risk by focusing on three areas: educating customers on proper disposal, training employees to recognize warning signs, and establishing emergency procedures alongside dedicated battery collection programs. Batteries and household hazardous waste should be disposed of properly rather than placed in household garbage bins.
Guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency addresses how to safely manage household hazardous waste such as cleaners, paints, and oils, according to the EPA. Separately, the Illinois EPA has advised residents not to toss unwanted batteries into curbside trash or recycling bins at all, instead directing them to approved drop-off locations, per guidance posted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Residents should dispose of batteries and other household hazardous waste properly.
