A Perth road was littered with piles of rubbish after a garbage truck went up in flames on Tuesday.
The fiery scenes lit up the suburban neighbourhood of Padbury in Perth’s north west, where emergency crews swiftly attended.
Fortunately, no injuries or damages have been reported.
The garbage truck was apparently forced to dump an entire load of waste onto the street after lithium batteries were found in a discarded keyboard amongst the rubbish, causing the blaze to erupt.
The forced dumping of rubbish was in accordance with ‘standard industry practice’, and was reportedly removed two hours later.
Shocking photos of the fire also included the fried keyboard that caused the fire.
Following the week’s event, a spokesperson from the City of Joondalup Council has warned residents not to dump electronic waste with the rest of their household rubbish.
“Lithium batteries and items are generally too small to identify within a load,” they told the Daily Mail.
“The driver’s vigilant behaviour and subsequent action saved this from becoming a more serious incident.”
Lithium-ion batteries are advised not to be thrown away in household waste bins or recycling bins, as they can potentially cause fires during waste collection, transportation, handling and processing.
Undamaged batteries can be safely disposed of at a battery recycling drop-off point.
