Fire at Spalding Recycling Centre

People are asked to be careful of what they put in the general waste following a fire at Spalding Recycling Centre.

This was one of three fires at recycling centres across Lincolnshire over the last weekend prompting calls for residents to remove batteries from toys along with not throwing gas lighters or flammable liquids into the general waste.

Sarah Hoof, waste officer at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "Now is the perfect time to have a post-Christmas sort out, but please, before you head to your local recycling centre, take a few minutes just to separate out all the batteries and fire lighting equipment.

"In the past few days we've had fires at Louth, Spalding and Sleaford. One of these was caused by old fire lighting equipment which had been put in a black bin bag in the general waste compactor. Luckily, we spotted it quickly and the fire was extinguished.

"If you have flammable liquid, lighters or gas please just let us know, we will put these in a separate area. Please also take a few minutes to take out batteries from games controllers, toys, TV remotes, mobile phones etc.

"We have a separate collection for these at all of our recycling centres. These are highly flammable if they end up in the compactors."

Earlier this year, South Holland District Council issued a warning after batteries sparked a fire at a recycling centre in the Deepings.

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