Participate in Study on Fires at Facilities and in Collection Vehicles

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) is conducting a study to better understand the rate of fires at MSW, C&D MRFs and scrap yards. While some data exists, there is little detail on the cause of the fire, what best management practices are used to prevent fires, and how to extinguish them. EREF is looking to collect this information from solid waste entities in order to summarize the following information about fires at MRFs and scrap recycling facilities and collection vehicles:

• Frequency of MRF and scrap recycling fires annually (i.e. % of facilities)
• Frequency of collection vehicles fires
• Suspected cause(s) of these fires
• Strategies/technologies used to fight the fire
• Damage caused by the fire (e.g. property, personnel injury/death, lost operating revenue)
• Preventative measures taken to minimize the potential for fires
• Likelihood for lithium ion batteries to be disposed of at MRFs or scrap yards and potential to cause a fire

You can learn more about the study and participate in it here.