<div dir="ltr"><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_kt0bvhhx2" alt="OKRA21posts_Banner (28).jpg" width="562" height="70"><br></div><div><br></div>We all know lithium-ion batteries are a hazard for recycling programs.  Read Resource Recycling's article below about a newly released report from the US EPA on lithium-ion battery fires.<div><br></div><div>Come to the OKRA Annual Recycling Conference on September 22-23 and hear Josef Bittner from Call2Recycle speak about "<i>Avoiding the Spark</i>."  To register for the OKRA 2021 Annual Recycling Conference "<i>Keeping a Lid on Contamination</i>" <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2021-oklahoma-recycling-conference-keeping-a-lid-on-contamination-registration-166313641579">tap here</a>.</div><div><br></div><div><div style="text-align:center"></div><div><br></div><div>************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_kt0bpv780" alt="image.png" width="411" height="121"><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail-rwh_post_inner_box" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-radius:8px;border:0px solid rgb(0,0,0);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:padding-box;background-clip:padding-box;color:rgb(33,37,41);font-family:"open sans",None,Arial;font-size:14px"><h1 class="gmail-rwh_post_title entry-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;font-family:"open sans",arial;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(7,127,76);font-size:24px;background-repeat:repeat;background-color:transparent"><a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/08/31/mrfs-face-brunt-of-the-negative-impact-from-battery-fires/" title="Permalink to MRFs face ‘brunt of the negative impact’ from battery fires" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(7,127,76);text-decoration-line:none;background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat">MRFs face ‘brunt of the negative impact’ from battery fires</a></h1></div><div class="gmail-rwh_article" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:"open sans",arial;color:rgb(179,179,179)"><div class="gmail-postedon" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span class="gmail-meta" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px">Published: August 31, 2021<br style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px">Updated: </span>August 31, 2021<br style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span class="gmail-meta" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px">by </span><span class="gmail-author gmail-vcard" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;float:none;max-width:74px"><a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/author/colinstaub/" title="View all posts by Colin Staub" class="gmail-url gmail-fn gmail-n" rel="author" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,130,50);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:middle">Colin Staub</a></span></div><div class="gmail-postcontent entry-content" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;background:padding-box padding-box transparent;border-radius:0px;border:0px solid rgb(0,0,0)"><div class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-aligncenter" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px auto;padding:5px 3px 10px;clear:both;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;border:0px solid rgb(255,255,255);max-width:100%;text-align:center;width:1010px"><img src="https://resource-recycling.com/e-scrap/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/lithiumbatteries_silabob_shutter_091416.jpg" alt="Lithium ion batteries for recycling." width="1000" height="667" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px solid transparent; border-radius: 0px; box-shadow: none; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;"><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px 4px 5px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:left;line-height:17px;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)"><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px">A new EPA research report runs through how a typical MRF might encounter and handle lithium-ion batteries, and how fires can be sparked.</em> | <em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px">silabob / Shutterstock</em></p></div><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Lithium-ion battery fires are affecting all types of waste management and recycling facilities. But the U.S. EPA recently concluded that the municipal recycling sector has it worse than others.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)"><span id="gmail-more-20781" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px"></span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">An <a href="https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-08/lithium-ion-battery-report-update-7.01_508.pdf" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,130,50);background-color:transparent;font-family:"open sans",arial">EPA report</a>, published last month, comes as there is <a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2021/04/13/mrf-operator-lithium-ion-batteries-are-ticking-time-bombs/" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,130,50);background-color:transparent;font-family:"open sans",arial">heightened attention</a> on lithium-ion battery fires across many sectors of the waste management industry. For the report, EPA researchers examined MRFs, landfills, transfer stations, trucks, electronics recycling facilities, and other locations.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">The report looked at the details of fires involving or suspected to involve lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) at 64 waste management facilities between 2013 and 2020. Details were gathered from news reports, expert interviews and other sources. Of the 64, researchers found 23 were MRFs, 13 were transport facilities, 10 were landfills and the remaining 18 were a variety of other facility types, including e-scrap processors, scrap metal yards, waste-to-energy plants and more.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“Our findings indicate that LIB fires are happening across the full spectrum of the waste management process, but MRFs appear to have faced the brunt of the negative impact,” the report states.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Of the MRFs that experienced battery fires in recent years, 78% had to call emergency responders at least once (compared with 40% of landfills), five of them had worker injuries (compared with just two other facilities across all other categories), and half of them experienced monetary loss.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">MRFs also had the most instances of service disruption after a fire, the report added. As one example, the report pointed to a fire at a Republic Services facility in Scottsdale, Ariz.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“The fire burned for over a day and destroyed the facility, which caused the town of Fountain Hills, Ariz., to suspend its recycling program,” the report stated. “Recyclable material was taken to a landfill temporarily until the town found another MRF.”</p><h3 style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:12px 0px;padding:0px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(20,36,61);font-size:1.43em">How fires begin</h3><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">The report ran through how a typical MRF might encounter and handle lithium-ion batteries, and how fires can be sparked.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“If spotted in the separation process, LIBs will be taken out of the MRF and sent to a specialty recycler or landfill,” researchers wrote. “If LIBs go unnoticed, they may become damaged by the sorting process.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">The increase in batteries entering MRFs is “forcing workers in these facilities to become de facto experts at spotting the batteries and extinguishing the fires that they inevitably ignite,” the report found.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">If they make it to the sorting line, the batteries are typically jostled against other materials, leading to potential battery damage and fires.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“Conveyor belts may then send smoldering batteries throughout the facility unless the belts are stopped,” the report stated. “Furthermore, MRFs are full of flammable material. When fires do start, they may spread quickly due to the large amounts of paper and cardboard present.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Batteries are also entering the waste stream in a growing number of products, the report found. Consumers might not consider the fire danger posed by the products, it added, giving the example of rechargeable plastic earbuds with a small embedded battery inside. There are <a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2019/11/20/regulators-consider-mandatory-labeling-for-mrf-hazard/" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,130,50);background-color:transparent;font-family:"open sans",arial">no standardized labels for batteries</a> in the U.S., and the caution language on batteries is sometimes misread by consumers to mean the battery is recyclable, the report stated.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">The most common devices that led to fires were batteries from cell phones, tablets and laptops.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">The findings were based on battery fires at the following facilities:</p><ul style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1rem 30px;padding:0px"><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Waste Management Little Rock Recovery Facility in Little Rock, Ark.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Friedman Recycling in Tucson, Ariz.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Republic Services in Scottsdale, Ariz.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Marin Recycling Center in San Rafael, Calif.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Shoreway Environmental Center in San Carlos, Calif.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Larimer County Landfill’s Recycling Center in Fort Collins, Colo.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Scott Area Recycling Facility in Davenport, Iowa.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Mack’s Twin City Recycling in Urbana, Ill.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Republic Services in Indianapolis.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Ecomaine in Portland, Maine.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County in Southfield, Mich.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority in Troy, Mich.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Dem-Con Recycling in Blaine, Minn.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Friedman Recycling in Albuquerque.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Royal Waste Services in New York City.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Taylor Garbage in Apalachin, N.Y.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Rumpke Waste & Recycling in Cincinnati.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">North Lincoln Sanitary Service Recycle Center in Lincoln City, Ore.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Fort Hood Recycle in Fort Hood, Texas.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Republic Services in Plano, Texas.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Chittenden Solid Waste District Recycling Facility in Williston, Vt.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">John’s Disposal in Norway, Wis.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-align:justify">Outagamie County Recycling & Solid Waste in Appleton, Wis.</li></ul><h3 style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:12px 0px;padding:0px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(20,36,61);font-size:1.43em">Impacts extend beyond immediate damage</h3><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Besides injuring workers and damaging specific facilities, battery fires are impacting the MRF sector as a whole in a few ways.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">For one, the fire potential is creating substantial financial pressure on municipal recycling facilities.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“Multiple MRF operators consulted for this report indicated that their insurance premiums and deductibles have increased in recent years,” researchers wrote. “Not only are prices increasing, but insurers are leaving the market, making it more difficult for MRFs to get insurance.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">For a MRF in the San Francisco Bay Area that experienced a <a href="https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2018/04/10/battery-fires-an-existential-threat-for-industry/" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,130,50);background-color:transparent;font-family:"open sans",arial">high-profile fire</a> a few years ago, insurance is now divided among seven separate policies “because no single insurer is willing to bear the risk,” the report stated.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Facilities are also investing in suppression systems as a way to reduce their insurance rates, but such investments carry high costs, according to the report. These preventative measures are “shifting where monetary expenditures occur rather than preventing monetary impacts entirely,” researchers found.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">Ultimately, the financial strain could make its way back to the ratepayers, if MRFs are forced to raise rates to cover higher insurance and other costs.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:1.42;background:padding-box padding-box rgba(255,255,255,0)">“This could leave Americans stuck with the bill for addressing the myriad issues created by LIBs inappropriately entering the municipal waste management process,” the report stated.</p></div></div></div></div></div>