Hot off the press and highly dangerous

FES also raises awareness of the dangers caused by incorrectly disposed batteries during the carnival parades in Frankfurt

Celebrating the fifth season in a joyful way and raising awareness of the fire risk caused by incorrectly disposed batteries and rechargeable batteries are not mutually exclusive. This year, FES Frankfurter Entsorgungs- und Service GmbH decorated its parade float with replicas of rechargeable batteries and batteries. The rhymes on the signs attached to the float are intended to raise additional awareness:

Batteries burn –

that is true,

in residual waste

fire danger awaits!

So collect them properly,

don’t be a fool,

bring everything to the

recycling center!

Such items –

let’s be honest,

in residual waste

are extremely dangerous!

The colleagues walking and riding along dressed according to the fire-risk theme, wearing blazing wigs and fiery capes.

In Frankfurt, at least one fire occurs every day in a waste disposal facility or a garbage truck; triggered by lithium-ion batteries. Most fires have so far been extinguished shortly after they started by FES employees themselves. However, in November 2024 a fire broke out at the Frankfurt waste-to-energy plant (MHKW), where the fire brigade was in operation for several hours. The load on a parked waste collection vehicle had caught fire.

In the FES waste paper sorting facility, damage worth millions occurred in 2022 when a wrongly disposed lithium-ion battery probably ignited and burning waste paper spread via the conveyor belts into the sorting drum and other parts of the plant. The facility only resumed operation in 2023.

Rechargeable batteries and batteries can be disposed of in various ways: via collection boxes in retail stores, at FES recycling centers or through the mobile hazardous waste collection. In this way, valuable materials contained in batteries such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese are not lost but can be recycled and returned to the material cycle.