Plea for public to recycle broken Christmas lights

THE public is being urged to recycle any broken or unwanted Christmas lights this year amid concerns that batteries are causing a surge of fires in the waste system.

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While the purchase and use of light-up electrical goods booms over the festive period, firefighters, waste management workers and recycling campaigners are calling on households to consider how they consume and dispose of these items.

They say lithium-ion batteries put in everyday rubbish bins can get crushed in bin lorries or at waste sites, which sparks fires that ultimately put firefighters, waste workers and communities at risk.

It comes as millions of Christmas lights and cheap electrical items so-called "fast-tech" are bought each year during the Christmas and New Year period, according to circular economy group Material Focus, which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign. The group said Christmas lights and fast-tech should be recycled after use if they cannot be fixed, donated or sold, pointing to its online tool showing households the location of their nearest tech recycling point.