The fourth fire at a north London waste centre in the space of a year has prompted calls for stricter regulations on lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
By Josef Steen, Local Democracy Reporter
The fourth fire at a north London waste centre in the space of a year has prompted calls for stricter regulations on lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
The Hornsey Street Waste Transfer Station in Islington reopened on Saturday August 1, after being forced to shut following a fire on Tuesday, July 28. Roughly 15 fire engines and 100 firefighters were called out to tackle the blaze.
No injuries were reported, but the fire has prompted urgent warnings about the dangers of disposing of smartphones, laptops, electric toothbrushes and other rechargeable devices. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) said the “worrying” upward trend in fires at the sites was largely being driven by damaged lithium-ion batteries igniting due to pressure or exposure to high temperatures, which can make them “as hot as molten lava”.
“These battery fires are a danger to our staff, force sites to close for days at a time, and the cost of damage is footed by local council taxpayers,” a spokesperson said.
The London Fire Brigade has confirmed there were four fires at the site since June 2025. One involving a refuse lorry was not investigated, while another was sparked by the unsafe disposal of a cigarette. Two incidents, including July 28th, were recorded as “undetermined”.
The LFB told the LDRS they could not conclusively pinpoint the cause of these fires to a lithium-ion battery, but added that this was a frequent cause of fires in waste facilities. However, the fire authorities must legally prove the cause of a fire before they can “definitively” attribute one.
The most recent incident has brought the total cost of fire damage to £1m, the NLWA has confirmed. The waste authority, serving over 2 million residents across seven north London boroughs including Camden, Hackney, Haringey, and Islington, has urged people to bin batteries only at dedicated recycling points or by booking a council collection.
Islington’s Council Leader, Una O’Halloran, on Thursday (July 30) said the recent fire followed a similar incident on Christmas Eve 2025, caused by a battery combusting after being incorrectly placed in household waste and crushed by a loading vehicle. Roughly 60 firefighters attended the scene, which resulted in an extensive clean-up operation after essential site equipment was damaged.
In a statement, she said: “I am asking all residents to play their part by recycling batteries separately, using dedicated recycling points for small electrical items, and returning vapes through retailer take-back schemes wherever possible.”
Tuesday’s battery fire has prompted the NLWA to issue fresh calls to the government to intervene in the so-called “zombie battery” crisis, which the public body has blamed for 200 fires recorded per year at UK recycling centres.
Under the law, all batteries placed on the UK market need to have labelled instructions stating that they should not go in general household waste. The government has made reforms to ensure stricter enforcement of existing hazardous waste classification for batteries, and tighter rules for manufacturers.
The Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill, introduced to the House of Lords in 2024 but is still under debate, aims to regulate the storage, use, sale and disposal of lithium-ion batteries by forcing online platforms to make sure products comply with safety rules to block rogue sales.
If passed, the Bill would ban people from putting an electric-powered micro-mobility vehicle with a lithium-ion battery, or the battery itself, on the market unless conformity assessment procedures have been carried out. Sellers of lithium-ion batteries would also be required to display a prominent warning about the dangers of improper disposal.
