Improper disposal increases risks of fires at county’s landfill

Aug 12, 2023

Trash is pushed across the working face of the dump at the Lycoming County Landfill in Montgomery Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. The landfill’s management wants the public to be aware that they need to properly dispose of batteries in products and not leave them in trash that’s sent to the landfill because it can start fires at the dump. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Thanks to the quick action and expertise of first responders and Resource Management Services employees earlier this summer, what had the potential to become a more serious event — a fire that spreads through recycled or waste materials — was averted.

“We were lucky enough to get on top of it and get it put out before it got really deep into the garbage and really got out of control,” said Donny Hassenplug Jr., customer and materials resource specialist at RMS.

“It can be a very serious catastrophe. All the stuff that goes into landfill, plastics and other things, can create very toxic smoke that could be very harmful,” he said.

Some landfill and recycling fires can pose a serious health concern which results in evacuating an area until the fire is under control. Because the county facility receives waste from other counties, closing it down would cause issues not only on the local level.

“If they didn’t have a place to go for their waste for even a day, it would really start to cause an issue. And then, you know, the businesses and the industries that we serve so that would be a struggle. I know landfills have closed for weeks due to fires, so you can imagine the backlog that would cause,” Hassenplug said.

A child’s battery powered car sits in a pile of trash waiting to be buried at the Lycoming County Landfill in Montgomery Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. The landfill’s management wants the public to be aware that they need to properly dispose of batteries in products and not leave them in trash that’s sent to the landfill because it can start fires at the dump. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

On the recycling side, the facility services six counties and handles about 15,000 tons a year. That amount fluctuates depending on the month, according to Lauren Strausser, recycling coordinator.

“We have a large service area, because we’re a regional recycling facility and landfill. So to have that material, not have location then to go to would be, then without even a bigger cost, because then you have to transport that material even further. Transportation is a huge cost in recycling,” Strausser said.

Although it is uncertain what caused the fires within a week of each other this summer, pool chemicals or lithium batteries are high on the list of items considered combustible that are being thrown in garbage.

With the increase of lithium batteries in so many devices used daily, the scenario is repeated across the country more frequently with some facilities being shut down until the damage from a fire is repaired resulting in not only a lack of revenue, but increased costs from having to ship materials to other sites.

“The influx of lithium batteries is from many, many devices, whether they’re toys, tools, appliances, even a gift card, for instance — the gift cards that open, and play music — they’re powered by a tiny little lithium battery. So the list is really endless. We could sit here all day and go through all the materials the lithium battery might be in. And you know a lot of that stuff is made to throw away or recycle,” Hassenplug said.

“We’re just seeing this enormous influx of these materials making their way into those streams,” he said.

The materials that are appearing on the recycling end of the landfill operation can be a hazard if they’re not caught when they arrive.

“In recycling we’ll see it coming in from the collections. And so they’ll see I, you know, on our tipping floor, that’s all the materials first line coming in, and then onto the line where they’re seeing it. They can even go down further paths, other sortations, and it just makes its way through the whole building. Sometimes it’s missed completely in all that separation, and makes it all the way to a bale, which is where the compressing the material into a block for transportation occurs. And we’ll see smoke starting to waft out of a bale and then the guys have to react to that very quickly,” Strausser said, showing the photo of what appears to be a rechargeable battery pack from a cordless drill which someone had sent for recycling.

“Unfortunately, so this will be like an article floor, that’s before it would go through the process. So you can see that it’s not even punctured anything. But there is a possibility when it’s getting picked up from the haulers that it could, when it’s getting compressed, be punctured and then cause an issue. That’s on the transportation side of it, those could be an issue. It could be a hazard when it comes to our facility. So there’s just so many parts where it can be an issue,” Strausser said.

“I’m not sure why people are throwing it into the recycling. It’s a battery. There’s no electronics or anything like that can go through any type of single stream or in our drop offs. So it’s just very surprising. Over the past week, it’s been for almost four batteries a day that we’re seeing from across the line and it can be anywhere from you know, triple A batteries to e-cigarette, even motorcycle batteries,” she added.

Workers are finding these items on the line, so they not only have to be aware of anything else that shouldn’t be recycled, now they have to be alert for any type of batteries.

“They also have to keep a better eye for this type of stuff coming through. And it’s just another hazard that we’re dealing with on a daily basis. I’m not sure why we’re seeing more and more. Not sure if it’s coming in from the drop-offs, from the single stream or it’s just coming from the home itself, or a mix of everything,” Strausser said.

The week before four motorcycle batteries had been sent for recycling and all types of items with batteries are coming through the recycling line on almost a daily basis, according to Jason Yorks, executive director.

“It’s almost like an interesting text in the afternoon to say, ‘oh here’s what we found,'” Yorks said.

Some batteries, like the ones from the motorcycle are as conspicuous. And with the speed that materials go by on a belt in presort, there are only a few seconds for sorters to react and catch something that shouldn’t be there.

“Unfortunately, we’re just seeing more and more of this material being made, especially lithium batteries. And they’re a huge hazard. They’re a hazard on the collection side and the processing side on both sides of the landfill and recycling,” Strausser said.

There are locations where batteries can be disposed of safely. Lowe’s will take rechargeable batteries and Staples has opened a collection site for single-use batteries although there is a limit in size, Strausser said. Marty’s Bicycle Shop will also recycle e-bikes.

The landfill also has a place for collecting a small amount of batteries.

“We’ll package that up and recycle it. We have a collection over by the self-dump here at the landfill for lead acid car batteries. So we have a home for that. But what we don’t have is a home for a bulk amount. We have had people come with buckets full of batteries that they’ve stored for years and years which you should not do because that is very dangerous,” Strausser said.

“There’s just so much more material and there’s just no outlet for it. And it’s like, how do you get the battery outside of this? And that’s still things that we’re trying to attack to understand and figure out,” Stausser added.

“So right now we’re working with different companies that handle batteries. And how can we make this a little bit more convenient and take a little bit of ownership on it because we want to protect our MRF (materials recovery facility) and we want to protect the landfill, as well as the truck drivers who are bringing in the waste,” she said.

Yorks sees the issue as a national problem that is not being addressed.

“The struggle, I find at a different level, is that there is yet to become a national even though it’s a national problem…there has not been a common thread, or somebody trying to get a message,” Yorks said.

He cited a message from New York City’s Fire Commissioner saying that lithium batteries were the number two cause of fires and fatalities for 2023.

“She is actively putting out Instagram posts and messaging about the dangers of them. But I don’t see a lot of other people through the United States that are trying to band together to get some kind of a common message. And awareness. It’s hit and miss,” Yorks said.

“Let this article be a call out to the awareness that it’s a problem that isn’t solved. And as we’re talking, there’s new things being invented with the batteries. Again, I can go out and manufacture anything I want and there’s nothing anybody’s gonna do about it, as long as it doesn’t infringe on patents. You can build anything you want with batteries, you don’t have to worry about what they’re going to do to close the loop,” Yorks said.

Yorks, Strausser and Hassenplug all stressed that this is an issue that has no definitive answer or solution at this time but are hopeful that one will be found. Until then, items placed in waste and at recycling sites should have batteries removed and taken to the recycling sites mentioned.

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