On Friday (10 April) a waste collection lorry caught fire in Cobham – luckily the fire was put out successfully and nobody was injured.
The blaze was caused by batteries from a household rubbish bin. When tipped into the waste truck, the fragile battery casings were crushed, causing the batteries to ignite and burn through the collected waste.
Never bin batteries
Batteries must always be disposed of separately, and not placed inside household or communal bins. We offer separate, weekly battery recycling collections. This is to protect collection crews from fires breaking out in transit, or when the waste is being handled by staff at depots or recycling facilities, where they can also burst into flames on site, putting lives at risk.
Other flammable items
We also provide a separate weekly recycling collections service for small electronic items such as old mobile phones, vapes, headphones, power banks, electric toothbrushes, and toys.
Gas canisters must be taken to your local community recycling centre (CRC) or contact the company you bought them from to see if they can collect for disposal.
Never place unused fireworks in bins, they ignite easily. Used fireworks must be soaked for 48 hours before placing in the rubbish bin.
If you’re unsure of how to dispose of any item, please use the Surrey Recycles search tool for the correct information. It only takes a few seconds and could prevent a fire.
Tuesday 14 April 2026