Fire at Amsterdam recycling firm likely caused by incorrectly disposed of batteries

The fire that covered Amsterdam in so much smoke that it triggered an NL-Alert on Friday was likely caused by incorrectly disposed of batteries. “People tend to throw batteries away in the wrong places,” Tom Verhoeven, branch director of the metal recycling company where the fire happened, said to AT5.

Batteries do not belong in the trash. They should be disposed of carefully, for example in boxes you can find in the supermarket.

According to Verhoeven, rechargeable ion-lithium batteries, in particular, pose a risk. “They don’t belong in the metal stream.” These batteries end up at the recycling company in electric bicycles where the owner forgot to take out the battery or in hoverboards or electric toothbrushes. “They can all cause these kinds of fires.”

The company stressed that it is doing its best to prevent these types of fires through heat-detection cameras and extinguishing systems. But it cannot guarantee that it won’t happen again. “We spend hundreds of thousands of euros a year on fire fighting and detection, but sometimes something slips through.”