A disposable barbecue in a recycling bin caused a fire in one of our bin lorries today (Friday 16 June), causing severe delays to our collection rounds.
A crew working in Clanfield spotted smoke billowing from the back of the collection vehicle. They quickly called the Fire Service who controlled the fire at the scene and then followed the truck back to our Petersfield depot.
There the entire 10-tonne collection, almost a full load, was tipped and then doused with water to ensure the fire was properly extinguished.
Once wet it cannot be recycled, it was loaded back into the truck by a telehandler and was sadly sent for incineration.
The incident meant the round was suspended, resulting in hundreds of bins missed today. These collections will be caught up on Saturday.
Cllr Richard Millard, EHDC Leader, said: "It's really important that people are very careful when they throw away disposable barbecues. The coals can stay hot and smouldering for several days and when mixed with the dry paper and cardboard in our recycling lorry it can easily reignite.
"Thankfully this incident wasn't as serious as it could have been and no-one was hurt, but it has meant a heavy delay in today's collections thanks to one person's stupidity."
If your bin has not been collected today please leave it out and our crews will make every effort to collect it tomorrow.
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