ASHWAUBENON, Wis. — Theres a nearly two-story high mound of recyclables inside the Brown County Resource Recovery Building in Ashwaubenon.

Trucks pull up on a regular basis and drop off more materials. There’s a chance some of those loads include discarded vaping devices and E-cigarettes.

The tiny, but powerful, batteries in those items can be a potential fire hazard if they are damaged.

“To find something as small as a vaping device in one truck load of material is next to impossible,” said Chris Blan, a resource recovery technician with the department.

That’s why he and the department are urging consumers to use a drop off site of the used devices to stop them from entering the recycling or waste streams.

“There’s still energy enough left in the battery where if it’s damaged it could become an ignition source for a fire,” Blan said.

Marissa Michalkiewicz of Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste knows the danger first hand. that department recently had a compactor fire attributed to a lithium ion battery.

“Once you get these things broken apart and they start reacting with one another they can cause serious damage not just for our people who work here but for our equipment,” she said.

Initially, batteries could be separated from the devices for disposal. But now, many are stronger, smaller and integrated directly into the device, creating a potential fire hazard.

Blan said about half the time when there’s a fire in a waste management facility or transfer truck, the cause is likely from a lithium ion battery like those found in vaping products and e-cigarettes.

“To me, throwing a vape in your trash or recycling is almost equivalent to throwing a book of matches in your trash,” Blan said. “It’s the same kind of risk.”

Brown County offers drop off at the Hazardous Material Recovery facility at 2561 S. Broadway from noon to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. There’s a fee of 30 cents per item.

Consumers can also check with retailers to see if they offer a take-back program.