(DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – The Duluth Fire Department and the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) are reminding residents to properly dispose of rechargeable and lithium batteries.
Those types of batteries should be taken to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at the WLSSD rather than thrown in the trash.
When lithium batteries come in contact with other material or batteries in the trash they can short circuit and ignite paper or other items.
That situation occurred this week, when a load of trash caught fire in a garbage disposal truck. The Duluth Fire Department extinguished the blaze and determined that the fire and several others last year were caused by the improper disposal of lithium batteries.
Other rechargeable batteries such as nickel-cadmium contain toxic metals that can threaten public health and the environment when simply thrown away.
Only standard and alkaline batteries can safely be thrown in the household trash.
