Mobile battery blamed for small dump fire
(CNS): Officials from the Department of Environmental Health (DEH) said that a small surface fire at the landfill at around 4pm Monday was probably caused by a mobile phone battery or similar item that had been discarded in the regular waste. When operators were compacting the area and drove over the battery, it may have burst and ignited. The Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) worked alongside DEH and the fire is now extinguished.
According to a release, DEH crews will continue to monitor the area throughout the night and notify CIFS immediately if any smoke is observed..
“Any kind of battery, including those found in mobile phones, pose an increased risk of combustion and should be separated from other waste materials when disposing,” said DEH Director Richard Simms. “The George Town Landfill has a designated area for batteries which we encourage
the public to use.”
With no recycle points for batteries or electronics or any separation collection services, despite their widespread use, the public still has to make a special effort to go to the landfill to recycle mobile and laptop batteries as well as all other electronic waste. As a result, many people are still tossing old electronics into the garbage.
Category: Local News
Now that CIG has dipped it’s toes into the electronic realm I guess “hot loads” are a thing of the past. Different excuse same result.
iPod Nano?
Wow…a needle in the hay stack. It may have been in the immediate area, however, the problem remains the constant dumping of nitrogen and carbon into the land fill on a daily basis.
This is shocking!.
ha ha