'Vapes have caused fires in my bin lorry - it's scary'

"We don't know when a fire can break out - we feel unsafe and are concerned about the safety of the general public."

Within the last six months in his job as a loader at a waste management company, Sean Holness has witnessed two fires that were the result of vapes being thrown in the wrong bin.

"It was a normal day and then the back of the lorry set ablaze," he said.

Sean told BBC London there have been several more fires at work in the past year or two, compared to when he started with the firm eight years ago.

Vapes are among a number of dangerous items being thrown away in household waste, causing fires and explosions and putting refuse workers at risk, he explained.

Awareness of the issue is being raised after several cases of explosions in the back of bin lorries, caused by discarded lithium ion batteries which are found in vapes being compressed by the lorry’s crusher.

Sean said: "It is scary and it is something that we would much prefer not to think about or even experience.

"We are imploring the public to be a little more vigilant and careful and more responsible in how they dispose of battery-operated items."

Sean's comments come as new data shows the number of vape-related fires in the UK have more than quadrupled since 2020.

The Electric Tobacconist, the online vape store, conducted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to all fire and rescue services in the UK to reveal the number of vape and e-cigarette-related fires in recent years.

It showed that from 2020 to 2024, there has been an increase in vape-related fires from 89 reports in 2020 to 399 in 2024, with the total number of incidents totalling 1,056 across the 39 fire and rescue services.

This is the equivalent of roughly one vape fire almost every other day since 2020, the study reported.

In the capital, the London Fire Brigade responded to 41 call-outs due to vape-related fires between 2020 and 2024, making it the seventh highest in the UK.

The number of incidents recorded each year jumped from three in 2020 to 14 in 2024 in the capital.

Pascal Culverhouse, from the Electric Tobacconist, said vapes should not be placed in a normal refuge bin and people should instead find their nearest donation or recycling point.

He added: "With any lithium batteries, or electricals containing lithium batteries, there is a serious fire risk if they are placed in your normal household bins or recycling.

"Lithium batteries can explode and catch fire if they are damaged, so it is always the safest option to follow your city's guidance on vape recycling."

London Fire Brigade station commander, Dee Dale, said: "When lithium-ion battery fires happen, they can be ferocious and can spread in seconds.

"A lithium-ion battery in a vape might fail because the battery has been overcharged or because the wrong charger has been used.

"We also suspect that discarded vapes are contributing to an increase in fires involving waste collection vehicles."

With the government's ban on single-use vapes less than a month away, on 1 June, one campaign group believes the problem of vape fires could well get worse as other products come on to the market to replace them.

Material Focus reported in December that an estimated 8.2m vapes, such as single use, pod and big puff models, are being thrown away every week or recycled incorrectly, which equates to 13 per second.

Scott Butler, from the group, said: "New models of vapes are surging on to the market, including big puff style vapes, and our research has shown that already millions of these new style vapes are being thrown away.

"Regretfully too few people know they should be recycling their vapes, partly because they've been marketed as disposable, which has embedded a behaviour that we are keen to change."

He added that people should "find your nearest recycling point on Recycle Your Electricals who have a postcode locator which has nearly 30,000 recycling points".

Advice on how to prevent fires from vapes:

• Only use chargers designed for use with the specific device
• Stop using or charging your vape if you notice any of the following: the vape overheats and becomes very hot to touch; the vape starts to make unusual noises; the battery won't fully charge and/or takes a long time to charge; and any sign or smell of smoke from the vape
• Never leave a vaping device charging unattended, and never leave them charging overnight – especially next to your bed
• Do not buy counterfeit goods, as both batteries and chargers are unlikely to have overcurrent protection which could lead to batteries exploding
• Never let your battery come into contact with metal items such as coins or keys in a pocket or bag, as this can cause a vape to short circuit and explode
• Never modify or adapt personal vaporisers and their associated kit
• Never use damaged equipment or batteries

Source: Oxfordshire County Council's Fire and Rescue Service

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