PSA: That lithium battery recycling bin at the county jail caught fire twice last month

Maintenance guy said they were storing them in a regular trash can with no signs. Had to call the fire department both times before someone finally taped up a warning.

3 comments

3 Comments

king.val1mo ago

That is absolutely wild. A regular trash can with no signs in a county jail of all places, that's just asking for trouble with those lithium batteries. I bet the maintenance guys are pulling their hair out over this, having to deal with fire crews and cleanup twice in one month. It's good they finally got a warning taped up, but that should have been step one, not a last resort. What kind of shape are those batteries in after two fires?

brianreed1mo ago

Has anyone else noticed how common this kind of thing is now? Honestly, it feels like every public place just has random trash cans that weren't built for what people actually throw away. Tbh, I've seen this in schools and even at the gym where someone tosses a dead vape or a battery pack into a normal bin and it starts smoking. Ngl, the maintenance guys probably knew this was gonna happen but couldn't get a sign approved until after the second fire. People don't think about it because lithium batteries just look like little bricks, not fire hazards. The batteries after two fires are probably melted and warped, maybe even corroded from the extinguisher foam. It's a mess no one wants to deal with but nobody plans for until it's too late.

margaretramirez1mo ago

The county jail part is what gets me. That's a place with rules for everything and they just let people toss lithium batteries into a regular trash can with no sign twice. Maintenance probably already knew the bin was a problem but had to wait for the second fire to get a piece of tape on it.