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Battery Fires on the Rise: A Call for Safer Recycling Practices

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Last week in Pakuranga, Auckland, our WM New Zealand team sprang into action when a fire broke out inside one of our recycling trucks. Following emergency protocol, the crew safely offloaded the truck’s contents onto the street, allowing Fire and Emergency NZ to quickly extinguish the blaze.

While the incident was safely managed, it highlights a growing issue that’s putting people and equipment at risk. Managing Director Evan Maehl says lithium battery fires are becoming alarmingly common in Auckland’s recycling trucks.

“If you go back five years, it hardly ever happened,” says Evan. “Now we’re seeing these fires more than once a week.”

The likely culprit? Lithium batteries—common in everything from rechargeable devices to coin-sized electronics. These batteries can ignite under pressure or heat, especially when crushed in recycling trucks.

With each recycling truck valued at around $500,000, these fires come at a significant cost. So far this year, we’ve already seen eight incidents across the region. In response, our team is trialling onboard smoke and heat detectors to improve early detection and safety for our drivers and the public.

While a recent Stuff article covered the fire and Evan’s message about proper battery disposal, it didn’t show the equally important follow-up: our team’s efficient and thorough clean-up effort, which helped minimise disruption in the community.

Let’s work together to prevent these dangerous fires.

Batteries should never be placed in your kerbside recycling bin. Instead:

  • Take them to participating hardware stores
  • Visit your local council website for drop-off points
  • Check wasteminz.org.nz for more information

Once collected, batteries are typically sent overseas where the lithium can be safely recovered through specialist recycling processes.

Thanks to Evan Maehl for the update, and to our frontline team for your quick thinking, commitment to safety, and care for our community.

Together, we can recycle better – and safer.