Lithium batteries are a boon to modern living, providing power to watches, phones, power tools and even musical greeting cards. But, they have also become a nightmare for landfills when people dispose of them improperly and for firefighters who are called to put out fires they cause when they overheat.

“When talking about glass recycling, I always tell the citizens, ‘Hey, open your refrigerator door in your mind, open the door and try to see what’s still glass.’ You know, there’s very little glass products in the fridge. So what I tell you with batteries is just sit quietly and think to yourself, what is on you? What are you carrying right now? That has a lithium battery — watches, cell phones, your hearing aid batteries,” Jason Yorks, director of Lycoming County Resource Management Services, told the county commissioners at their meeting this week.

“They’ve become so much a part of society that the idea of trying to eliminate or change is just impossible. Until a product better than lithium, denser than lithium, is discovered or made, you will be stuck with lithium batteries. This isn’t a 10-year problem. This is gonna be the next 30 to 40 (years). We will still have them in our society. They are that good,” Yorks said.

Yorks and Lauren Strausser, recycling coordinator for the county, were at the meeting to announce that the landfill will begin recycling batteries starting March 1 at their location at 447 Alexander Drive, Montgomery.

Batteries will not be recycled at the Transfer Station site.

Until now, rechargeable batteries could only be recycled at Lowe’s or Staples.

“Batteries should not be thrown into trash or recycling bins…batteries are a fire hazard to collect in collection from curbside to the transportation to inside the recycling and waste facilities, ” Strausser said.

“Last June, the landfill experienced two fires at the working base and they’re suspected to be caused by lithium batteries. Every day, we’re seeing batteries come across the recycling lines and experience many near-miss fires. We see (those fires) at the tipping floor to baled items. The baled items, when they’re compressed for transportation, we see them smoking and have to put them out,” she said.

“We’ve been very lucky to put them out before any hazard has happened to where we had to lose the whole building,” she added.

Yorks, who recently attended a seminar for firefighters on how to deal with fires caused by lithium batteries, shared how it made him rethink how he charges items in his home.

“I now don’t even let my watch charge without me being present. I used to put everything on charges and go to bed. My family and I would put my cordless drills on chargers and then let them go…that’s no more,” Yorks said.

“These things hit a thermal runaway…and that’s when they start to break down and create their own fire. They’re unstoppable. You’re not gonna get a fire company to your house quick enough — the damage is already done,” he said.

A thermal runaway is when a lithium-ion cell enters an “uncontrollable, self-heating state,” according to sciencedirect.com. It can result in the release of gas, extremely high temperatures, smoke and eventually fire.

Damaged batteries are particularly susceptible to thermal runaway.

“We are definitely concerned about isolating damaged batteries and the batteries that have been coming across our sort line or in the working face. If it’s crushed or damaged with our processing, we don’t know it until the smoke starts, the fire starts, and then that’s a runaway. The gas that comes off of lithium batteries is toxic, very dangerous. Not to mention it creates its own oxygen, so it’s pretty self-sufficient for a fire,” Yorks said.

Batteries also present a hazard when they are just sitting around.

“They can hit thermal runaway through several ways. There can be damage jarring around other batteries. That’s one problem with the car batteries — your Teslas and your Nissans and stuff. Once the one cell hits thermal runaway, it takes the rest of them with it,” he said.

“The fire companies have a challenge of trying to dump 30-, 40-, 50,000 gallons of water on a battery and, if you did save half of it, you’re not going to use it. But then you’ve just created a product that the fire companies have to be careful (with). A lot of fire companies now are figuring out they have to follow the tow company back to the yard where they parked the car because the car still poses a risk of taking off again,” he said.

“I can’t stress enough how dangerous these are — not to make everybody paranoid, but we really walked into this one as a society. Smile and think, ‘Boy, these are great. My cordless drill can run for hours. I can build half my deck and not recharge.’ Unfortunately, the aftermath is we are stuck with a product that’s pretty dangerous,” he said.

Batteries in the home should be stored by taping the terminals — the shiny sides — with a packing or other clear tape. But, do not store them for more than one year.

The recycling program at the landfill will accept the following: alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, etc.), lithium batteries — single-use, button batteries and rechargeables; Nickel Cadmium (NiCd), Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) and battery-containing units, which are items where the batteries cannot be removed such as electric toothbrushes, toys and tools. For instructions on what to do with damaged, broken or swollen batteries, contact Resource Management Services first.

Items not accepted are vapes and electric vehicle batteries.

Each battery should be separated by chemical type, according to information from LCRMS. When bringing these items to the landfill, proceed to the scalehouse to notify the weighmaster what you have. There is a separate area for the batteries. There is no charge for this service.

Information about battery recycling can be found at: LCRMS.com/batteries.

“This program is just the start. We expect it to evolve as it grows,” said Strausser.