'UH OH': Orelia resident's battery dump triggers waste truck fire, City of Kwinana issues warning

The City shared photos of the incident on social media this week, bluntly captioning the post: "Uh oh, someone in Orelia put a battery in their bin!"

While the tone may have been light, the warning behind it is deadly serious.

Household batteries, particularly the lithium-ion variety found in everything from mobile phones and laptops to power tools, vapes and children's toys, can ignite when crushed during the collection process inside waste trucks.

The resulting fires can spread rapidly through loads of mixed household rubbish, and in some cases have forced drivers to tip smouldering loads onto the road to avoid catastrophic damage.

"When batteries (especially lithium-ion ones) are crushed in collection trucks, they can spark and ignite, which puts drivers, waste workers, and the community at serious risk," the City said.

The City also warned that incidents like the Orelia fire are becoming disturbingly common across WA.

"Fires in trucks happen more often than you think," the post read.

"They can cause major damage and service disruptions. Most are preventable."

Major truck fires can take vehicles out of service, disrupt scheduled rubbish collections across entire suburbs, and in worst-case scenarios result in injury to front-line workers who are simply doing their jobs.

The City has asked residents to take a simple but critical step to prevent future incidents — never place batteries in any kerbside bin, including the red general waste bin, the yellow recycling bin, or the green lime-lidded FOGO bin.

Instead, batteries should be taken to an approved battery recycling drop-off location.

B-Cycle — Australia's official national battery stewardship scheme operates a network of free drop-off points across Perth and WA, with locations commonly found at major supermarkets, hardware stores and some community facilities.

Residents can find their nearest battery recycling location at bcycle.com.au/drop-off.