Lithium batteries pose a growing risk to Swiss recycling plants

On August 28, at the Thévenaz-Leduc plant in Ecublens, in canton Vaud, a pile of scrap metal considered harmless caught fire within minutes. Surveillance cameras recorded the first smoke at 6:46 p.m.; shortly afterward, flames were already five metres high. The fire paralysed part of western Lausanne. The investigation by the Vaud public prosecutor's office is still ongoing, but for Dario Balmelli, chairman of the board of the Barec group, which runs the plant, the cause leaves little doubt: a lithium battery. Such batteries, he explains, give off white smoke and then catch fire within seconds.

Vaud's environment department (DGE) states that the plant complied with its operating permit and that the latest inspections, in 2024 and 2025, found no issues. The canton also collected soil samples near the site to check for possible contamination.

A widespread risk, hard to control at the source

The Ecublens incident is not an isolated case. In recent years, several Swiss recycling plants have been hit by fires linked, among other causes, to lithium batteries, now found in mobile phones, wireless earbuds, e-cigarettes, toys and household appliances. If damaged or disposed of incorrectly, they can catch fire within seconds. According to Balmelli, the problem lies less in how plants handle waste internally than in the public's lack of awareness about how to dispose of these items properly: a single battery thrown away in the wrong place can be enough to start a fire.

This is why Swiss Recycle organised its first training course in French-speaking Switzerland, in Yverdon-les-Bains, for staff running collection points, aimed at teaching them to recognise risks and store lithium batteries safely. Recycling centres also report a steady rise in the volumes they collect.

The spread of these devices is also a concern for policymakers. National councillor Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini (Greens) had already raised the issue in 2023 with a postulate, pointing to products designed to be hard to take apart or meant for quick replacement: when internal components stay hidden, she notes, there is a greater risk that the whole device gets thrown away, with negative consequences for the environment. Air travel has adapted too: since the start of the year, Swiss has banned the use and charging of external batteries on board.

At home, fires remain rare but are increasing: in canton Vaud, the number rose from about ten cases a year until 2020 to nearly thirty today, accounting for 2% of the canton's annual house fires. Vaud's cantonal insurance institute (ECA) advises watching for batteries that feel hot to the touch or appear swollen, both signs of imminent danger.

The cost of this prevention falls mainly on companies in the sector. In Geneva, which has no cantonal building insurer, the recycling firm Serbeco has spent over 2 million francs on technical measures over the past twenty years, on top of annual operating costs exceeding 200,000 francs. For about a year, the company has also used an automatic water cannon linked to thermal cameras to help contain any outbreaks of fire.