Vape fire 'near misses' prompt recycling plea

A plea has been made to people to dispose of vapes and e-cigarettes properly

A council says it fears waste disposal workers' lives are being put at risk due to a rise in "near-miss" incidents involving vapes and e-cigarettes.

The local authority in the Borders has installed dedicated bins for them at all its community recycling centres (CRC).

However, it said a number had caught fire after being put in general waste or other recycling bins.

It has now appealed to the public to make sure they put vapes and e-cigarettes in the containers specially designed for them.

It said there had been an increase in incidents in its bin lorries and waste transfer stations.

Special bins have been put in for recycling vapes

The council warned that the devices - which contain lithium batteries - were prone to overheating if not recycled properly.

Jenny Linehan, executive member for environment and transport, said many vapes and e-cigarettes were disposed of incorrectly.

"This increases the risk of fires in our waste collection vehicles or in our waste transfer stations as the batteries overheat rapidly and can spontaneously combust," she warned.

"We've recently had a number of dangerous incidents caused by fires started by vapes and when this happens it can cause a serious risk to life for the staff working in these areas and damage expensive equipment paid for by the taxpayer.

"With this in mind I'm appealing to any users of vapes and e-cigarettes to make the effort to dispose of these items correctly for the safety of our staff and to ensure we can properly recycle these mass-produced items."

She said all of its CRCs had dedicated recycling bins for them as did some larger supermarkets in the region.