183million cheap plug-in and battery products were bought ahead of the holidays last year, sending the risk of blazes at recycling centres rocketing.
According to a new report from Recycle Your Electricals, Britons spent £1.7billion on festive light up tech in 2024. This includes 39million fairy lights.
While some of the purchases were made to last, 168million light-up Christmas items and so-called ‘FastTech’ gifts were binned in the past 12 months. These came with 1.6billion potentially dangerous batteries
Many blazes are caused by items being put in the wrong bin, winding up crushed and damaged, at which point they are much more likely to ignite. Waste workers, fire fighters and members of the public are then put at risk of serious harm, with cases recorded in domestic, refuse collection and processing settings. 1,200 of these fires were recorded in the year to 2024, up 71% on 2022.
‘We’re not the Grinch. We also find twinkly lights irresistible at Christmas,’ said Scott Butler, Executive Director, Material Focus, which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign. ‘We understand FastTech Christmas lights and gifts, and the traditions around them, help make Christmas the most joyful time of year for many. But as we reach the new year the novelty’s worn off or the festive lights have broken yet again, why not start 2026 by creating your own positive impact?
‘If it can’t be fixed, donated or sold, always recycle them. Electricals with hidden batteries must always be recycled separately from your household rubbish and recycling,’ he continued. ‘Visit our Recycling Locator, to find your nearest recycling point where you’ll find how quick and easy it is to make sure tech doesn’t end up in the bin.’
The Recycle Your Electricals report shows that 443million FastTech items go on sale in the UK just for the festive period, making Christmas – when six of these items are bought every second – peak season for e-waste. The public are now being urged to take ‘the most impactful sustainable actions you can’ in December and January, by ensuring anything with a wire, battery or both, is disposed of correctly. Or, better yet, reused.
‘A fire in the back of a collection vehicle is one of the things we dread most,’ said Ricky Taylor, a Bin Lorry Loader working at a SUEZ operated site in Doncaster. ‘A battery can go from nothing to a full-blown blaze in seconds, putting not just me but the whole crew at risk. In a recent incident, we were told to eject the load onto the road to stop the fire spreading – this is the safest way to prevent the lorry and its fuel from making the fire worse.
‘The fire brigade attended, checked everything over and advised we could reload the waste… but the fire restarted because the battery was still smouldering,’ he continues. ‘We had to empty the entire load in a residential street while fire crews stayed to make sure it didn’t reignite. It’s really important people realise how common these fires are becoming. Unless we get the message out, more people are at risk of getting seriously hurt.’
Image: 张 嘴 / Unsplash
More Waste, Pollution & Recycling:
UK made natural polymer food containers set for more EU customers
Leeds based consultancy drives new tech which can clean water worldwide
Scottish bathing waters emphasise England’s pollution crisis