In 2021, three sites of the recycling company Galloo were victims of fires in Hauts-de-France.
In all cases, the origin of the fire was due to the explosion of a lithium battery or cell.
Claims of this kind jumped 150% between 2014 and 2019 among recycling professionals.
Lithium batteries, sources of energy and problems.
It's hard to forget the series of fires which, last year, affected several sites of the recycling company Galloo, in Hauts-de-France.
The most impressive, in Clairoix, in the Oise, had mobilized dozens of firefighters for long hours in September 2021. According to the director of development of Galloo, these disasters all had the same origin: the explosion of a battery in the lithium.
The increase in claims linked to the proliferation of these energy sources leaves recycling companies destitute.
For the year 2021 alone, the Belgian group Galloo saw three of its sites in Hauts-de-France partly destroyed by fires caused by batteries or lithium batteries.
On the Clairoix site, in the Oise, the company spent 1.5 million euros to restore the 1,000 m2 ravaged by the flames.
“It will soon be seven months since the factory has been closed, the operating loss is enormous,” laments Olivier François, development director at Galloo.
“150 more or less serious fires recorded each year”
The situation in Hauts-de-France reflects a national, even European problem, as François Excoffier, president of the Federation of recycling companies (Federec) points out: “Between 2014 and 2019, fires on our recycling sites have in effect increased by 150%, with approximately 150 more or less serious fires recorded each year”.
At the end of the chain, companies in the sector denounce a problem that is not taken into account upstream.
“We invented an incendiary bomb that we distribute everywhere without worrying about the end of life of the objects that contain it,” insists Olivier François.
Because batteries of this type are everywhere: cordless drills, mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, car keys... We cannot even throw stones at the consumer who neglects selective sorting: "More and more moreover, for reasons of production or design cost, the batteries are no longer accessible and therefore cannot be recycled separately,” adds Olivier François.
As a result, lithium batteries end up in the dumpsters of recycling centers or companies like Galloo, in the middle of garbage cans with the risk that this implies.
"These batteries ignite under the effect of a shock, imagine in a dumpster", insists the president of Federec.
It is also for this reason that it is forbidden to transport them in the holds of an aircraft.
"Yes, there will be outbreaks of fire, but they will not be serious"
The authorities have been made aware of this issue by Federec.
The Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, has commissioned a study, the results of which are awaited.
“We have known for 20 years but nothing has been done.
Manufacturers and distributors of objects containing this type of battery are very discreet on the issue,” laments François Excoffier.
Suddenly, no choice, it is the recycling professionals who adapt.
“We are modifying our facilities to make smaller stocks of waste, separated by concrete walls, in order to prevent the spread of fire in the event of a fire”, we explain at Galloo.
Additional constraints taken into account in the design of the company's new site in Harnes, in Pas-de-Calais.
“Yes, there will be fire starts, but they will not be serious because stocks will be very low on the site”, recognizes, fatalistic, Olivier François.
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Environment
Planet
Fire
Recycling
Battery
Hauts-de-France
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