Exploding lithium-ion batteries are leading to more fires in Oregon鈥檚 landfills and recycling centers, prompting action from state and local governments.
Deschutes County Solid Waste Director Tim Brownell said his county鈥檚 landfill has seen 21 lithium-related fires in the past three months. Staff went from seeing battery fires once a month to multiple times a week.
鈥�(Lithium batteries) are everywhere in the system,鈥� Brownell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a public safety concern and it鈥檚 a concern for the infrastructure that are taxpayer investments.鈥�
Lithium batteries can be found in a variety of household objects, ranging from cars to power tools and from e-bikes to birthday cards that play music when opened. When run over by tractors or crushed in a trash compactor, they have the potential to explode and catch fire.
Because of this, the batteries are considered hazardous and aren鈥檛 allowed in the landfill. Many end up there anyway. Brownell said many people simply don鈥檛 know that they shouldn鈥檛 throw the batteries in the garbage.
In some cases, it鈥檚 leading to potentially dangerous situations. On multiple occasions, garbage trucks have arrived at the Deschutes County landfill with a fire smoldering in the back, Brownell said.
It鈥檚 unclear how many injuries these types of fires have caused in Oregon.
As for which objects are causing fires, Brownell has seen cellphones, tablets and large batteries found in e-bikes and cars. Those larger ones are of particular concern because the fires are bigger.
鈥淵ou might get flames that are three or four feet up in the air,鈥� Brownell said. 鈥淥nce you get flames like that, you start to get concerned about it starting to catch the adjacent materials around it.鈥�
Battery fires aren鈥檛 a new issue.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a analyzing the impact of these batteries on fires in waste management facilities. The agency found 245 separate fires across 28 states, some of which led to entire buildings burning down. Recycling centers were at particular risk of fire damage.
The report mentioned Pacific Coast Shredding in Vancouver, Washington, which reported multiple lithium fires. In 2019, a car went through an automobile shredder and caught fire, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
The problem appears to be worsening, which Brownell said could be related to lithium batteries appearing more widely in the marketplace. Reuters reported earlier this year that demand for lithium batteries is on the rise, with the market in the U.S. expected to rise six times by 2030.
State agencies have started taking notice. Earlier this year, the Oregon State Fire Marshal鈥檚 Office started tracking fires stemming from lithium battery explosions, according to spokesperson Alison Green.
Green said it鈥檚 still early to pull any findings from the data. The agency collects data on all structural fires in the state, and Green said the agency鈥檚 hoping to understand how often lithium batteries are causing fires, what鈥檚 causing them to explode and how that can be prevented.
At this early stage, it鈥檚 still unclear how many fires lithium batteries are causing in Oregon. Brownell said more data is key to getting the public to understand the severity of the problem.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to speak publicly about it, we have to get a better sense of how often it is happening,鈥� Brownell said.
Brownell said people looking to throw away lithium batteries should bring them directly to the landfill, where operators can discard them properly.
He said he hopes, in the future, 鈥減eople who put (lithium batteries) into the marketplace bear some of the responsibility鈥� for the fires.
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