Enhanced safety in the waste management industry with the LiLA collection bin
LiLA stands for ‘Lithium-Light-Appliances’
The waste management industry is reporting a significant increase in fires in waste treatment plants and has identified lithium batteries (LiB) and small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) with permanently installed LiB as a possible cause of the fires.
This is supported by the significant increase in the number of small and micro electronic devices containing lithium batteries, such as disposable e-cigarettes. As consumers do not always recognise such devices as WEEE to be disposed of separately, they end up in the various municipal waste streams, e.g. in household waste or in the yellow bin, which can pose a safety risk.
In order to increase safety in the various disposal chains, GRS Service GmbH has initiated a pilot project to improve the separate collection of small and very small electrical appliances with permanently installed LiB and the safe disposal of the LiB they contain.
On behalf of GRS Service GmbH, the GRS foundation, together with ia gmbh and bifa, is carrying out pilot tests for an additional collection system in selected regions: the LiLA collection barrel.
Scientific support
bifa was commissioned to provide scientific support for the pilot project and is carrying out, amongst other things, a comprehensive material flow analysis. For this purpose, the condition of the batteries and the composition of the collected EAGs are also to be determined by means of disassembly.
Recommendations for action are to be derived from the results of the surveys in order to make the separate collection of small and micro electrical and electronic appliances with LiB safer and to reliably minimise fire risks in all affected disposal chains.
The investigation will start in Starnberg, Straubing, Neumarkt, Bielefeld and Potsdam Mittelmark. Others will follow in the coming months.