Unheard of, 17 fires broke out in the last 38 days at the Saguenay sorting center, all burning objects that never ended up there.
Municipal authorities on Thursday had to warn citizens not to throw anything into the blue bin.
A huge amount of batteries has been thrown for recycling by the citizens of Saguenay for at least two months. Over the past few days, Sorting Center employees have amassed a huge collection of batteries, lighters, electronic items and electronic mounts.
The problem is that these things do not end up in the recycling bin or in the trash. In addition to causing fires, batteries contaminate land in landfills.
“This has huge consequences in terms of worker safety. The departments have to move the fire. Obviously, it has an impact on our productivity and it still has significant costs to the city, that kind of neglect. […] We are asking the people, the citizens of Saguenay, to bring them to the drop points,” explained Jimmy Bouchard, president of the Saguenay Sustainable Development and Environment Commission.
There are several drop-off points to safely leave our spent batteries. Or in ecocentres, city offices, municipal libraries or in many private companies. An extensive list of these locations can be found in the town of Saguenay City.
When a recycling battery is disposed of by a citizen, it ends up at a sorting center. Sometimes the employees have time to spot them in the sorting line just in time to remove them immediately.
However, this does not always happen, and when the battleship sneaks up to attack the ship and is crushed, it can start to fire. This caused an average of one fire per two days for more than one month. This is not only dangerous for the safety of the employees, but also very damaging for the Saguenay Sorting Center.
“There are fires that started outside in the shipping containers. The fire is inside. The fire was the beginning that was quickly subjected to our fires. There were no serious consequences in the human and material environment, but we do not have to wait for that to act. That is why today we raise people’s awareness”. added Lord Bouchard.
