While fire investigators monitor the Hannah Close site in Neasden to determine the exact origin of Friday’s massive blaze, the incident has drawn renewed attention to a dangerous nationwide trend: a surging number of fires at UK waste and recycling facilities driven by improperly discarded lithium-ion batteries.
The London Fire Brigade sent 20 engines and around 125 firefighters to the LondonEnergy waste transfer facility on Hannah Close after 11.30am on Friday. The cause remains under investigation. Waste industry experts warn that everyday consumer electronics — most notably single-use vapes, e-bikes, e-scooters and smartphones — are increasingly ending up in household rubbish bins. When crushed inside collection lorries or processing compactors, their internal batteries can rupture and enter thermal runaway, igniting surrounding material in seconds.
A nationwide trend: over 10 fires a week
Data from the Environmental Services Association (ESA) — the trade body representing UK waste management companies — shows that incorrectly discarded batteries spark more than 10 fires every week at recycling facilities nationwide. Over a 12-month period leading into 2026, ESA members recorded over 1,500 facility fires, with at least 541 confirmed to have been caused directly by lithium-ion batteries. Hundreds more occurred inside refuse collection vehicles. Industry figures suggest that as many as 70% of all recycling site fires may stem from battery ignition, as the intense damage often obscures the initial cause.
Similar large-scale blazes linked to battery disposal have struck recycling and waste transfer stations across the country in recent months, including major incidents in Deptford, Ilford, Widnes, Glasgow, Costessey and Dereham.
Industry and experts sound the alarm
Fire prevention bodies and academic experts have voiced growing frustration over the risk posed by unsegregated e-waste. Labour MPs including Siobhain McDonagh have already pressed for tougher action on lithium battery and vape fires.
Patrick Brighty, head of recycling policy at the ESA, warned of the severe toll on infrastructure and safety:
“Battery fires are reaching epidemic proportions across Britain’s recycling and waste industry, placing workers at risk and threatening vital infrastructure… It only takes a single battery hidden in household rubbish or recycling to cause a huge fire and decimate a facility. The total cost of battery fires now exceeds £1bn a year, with huge knock-on implications for insurance costs.”
Dr Francesco Restuccia, a fire safety expert at King’s College London, said:
“There has been an exponential increase in fires at recycling centres, mainly because we are using and discarding lithium batteries in everyday objects like smartphones, children’s toys, toothbrushes and vapes. When a lithium battery is crushed, its internal separator is pierced… creating internal short circuits until it reaches its ignition point.”
The London Fire Brigade has also highlighted the burden these incidents place on emergency services:
“Fires that we attend at sites like recycling centres and scrap yards can be very time consuming for our firefighters and often require a high level of resources to put the fire out.”
Calls for stricter disposal and deposit schemes
With an estimated 5 million disposable vapes thrown away every week in the UK, industry groups and local authorities are pushing for urgent public awareness and policy intervention.
Local councils and fire services continue to urge residents never to place vapes, e-bike batteries or any electronic items into general household bins or dry recycling. Instead, consumers are urged to use dedicated small WEEE recycling points at household waste recycling centres, supermarkets and electrical retailers to keep frontline waste workers and communities safe.
