Winnipeg starting trial to divert vaporizers from landfill and recycling facilities

The city is launching a new trial to divert vaporizers from landfills and recycling facilities due to fire risk.

Lithium-ion batteries from disposable vaporizers are sparking fires at Brady landfill, according to the superintendent of waste diversion for the city. This is leading to a new trial to try and prevent them from entering the waste and recycling circulation.

Mark Kinsley said the batteries in vapes aren’t easily removable, so when they get thrown in the garbage and then come into contact with heavy machinery at the landfill, there is a chance they can get damaged, which could potentially start a fire.

Lately, these vapes have been causing a fire per month on average, according to Kinsley.

“We’ve had fires at the landfill, where most of them are small, and thankfully we react to them. We’ve got safe work procedures and whatnot. And after the fact, they have noticed that lithium batteries have caused some of (the fires),” said Kinsley.

There is already a program in place at 4R depots to get rid of lithium batteries that are in everyday items like tools or cellphones, but that isn’t the case for vaporizers.

Now, this new trial is allowing people to bring their used vapes to a depot and they can be disposed of properly.

“This is an industry issue. All waste management is dealing with this,” said Kinsley. “We’re trying to sort of get ahead of it and we’re always trying to improve programs where the first priority is giving people the outlet to move their stuff on to the next stage, whether that be recycling, other waste diversion things.”

If the batteries were removable from vaporizers, Kinsley believes this wouldn’t be as much of an issue, as the batteries could be brought into the same battery program as other items.

“The issue here is, most of them, to my understanding, are contained…So the vape devices themselves can go to the 4R depots. That’s really the only option right now, and even we don’t have a long-term solution for it, but we’re working on it.”

If the vapes are brought in, Kinsley said crews have processes in place to safely dismantle them. It also allows for many of the products inside to be recycled or reused.

Kinsley said the metal inside can be reused, as well as some of the chemicals inside the battery.

“There’s a process and then at the very end, the stuff that has to be disposed of is done safely, so it doesn’t harm the environment at any point.”

Kinsley said Winnipeggers do a great job already of bringing in used batteries and keeping them out of the landfill and this new trial is just a reminder to keep up the work.

“If people can do their best to know what’s acceptable and then find where that best option is to divert any material away from the landfill.”