TAMPA, Florida — Nobody wants to deal with a hot load of garbage, especially in the summer heat. It's why the city of Tampa is making sure residents know how to properly dispose of batteries and other household chemicals.
Mayor Jane Castor and other city leaders shared important waste disposal information on Tuesday after seeing a recent trend in spontaneous combustions and fires happening inside trash trucks, otherwise known as "hot loads."
Hot loads are most often caused by lithium-ion batteries, but can also be sparked by chemicals and other electronic items.
The most recent hot load happened on June 30 when a city trash collector noticed some items in their truck had caught fire. The employee was able to dump the trash pile into the street and call for help from the fire department.
While no one was hurt in this instance, Castor warned that these fires can be dangerous or even deadly.
Tampa Fire Chief Barbara Tripp joined the mayor to explain that these hot loads are more dangerous than typical fires because they involve thermal runaway — the process of a lithium-ion battery entering an uncontrollable, self-heating state.
Tripp said that thermal runaways can produce toxic gas and make fires more difficult to extinguish.
To avoid fires, she stressed that lithium-ion battery-powered devices like cameras, toys, electronics and e-scooters should only be charged using the proper chargers they come with and should never be placed on a bed while plugged in.
According to the city of Tampa, hot loads are most commonly caused by:
- Overheating lithium-ion batteries
- Chemicals
- Cleaning solutions
- Propane tanks
- Electronics
To find out how to properly dispose of these and any other questionable items, Tampa Solid Waste Superintendent Latrice Underwood recommended downloading the Tampa Trash and Recycling app.
Users can type in any item they need to throw away and the app will tell them how and where to properly dispose of it.