Overview
- Fire risk at materials recovery facilities, like Ann Arbor’s MRF is rising, and lithium-ion batteries are a leading cause. A fire on June 18 injured a worker and damaged equipment after a likely battery ignited on the sorting line. This is part of a national trend, and locally it highlights the urgent need for better public awareness about what cannot go in curbside bins—including batteries, propane tanks, vape pens, and electronics.
- Proper disposal of hazardous materials is critical to preventing future MRF fires and protecting facility workers. In Washtenaw County, residents can bring batteries and other high-risk items to the Drop-Off Station on Ellsworth or the Home Toxics Center on Zeeb Road. These sites are equipped to safely manage materials that pose fire and chemical hazards if processed incorrectly.
- The Ann Arbor MRF uses advanced fire detection tools like the Fire Rover system and complies with the 2021 International Fire Code, but these technologies can’t fully prevent fires caused by improper recycling. Staff continue to receive emergency training, but the safest approach remains keeping dangerous materials out of the system altogether.
- Aluminum can recycling, while not a fire risk, is also underperforming—Michigan’s return rate has dropped below 76% post-pandemic. These cans are among the most valuable materials recovered at the MRF and help offset operational costs. Clean, uncrushed cans placed properly in curbside recycling make a big difference for local recovery economics.
- Washtenaw County relies on the MRF not just to divert waste, but to support a circular economy. When residents recycle correctly—avoiding fire hazards and capturing high-value materials like aluminum—they’re helping maintain a safer, more effective system that benefits both workers and the environment.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and welcome to this week's edition of Issues of the Environment. I'm David Fair. And today, we're going to explore the increasing risk of fires at recycling facilities. Now, you may have heard, back on June 18th, there was a fire at Recycle Ann Arbor's Materials Recovery Facility. It's affectionately known as the MRF. It resulted in the injury of one worker and caused damage to equipment. It's an issue seen with growing frequency all around the country. It just may be that the best fire prevention methods at these facilities comes down to the choices that you and I make. Here to discuss the matter further is Recycle Ann Arbor CEO, Bryan Ukena. And thank you so much for the time today, Bryan! I appreciate it!
Bryan Ukena: Absolutely! Thank you for bringing this very important topic up!
David Fair: Well, take us back to June 18th for a moment, if you don't mind. Where were you when workers first noticed the fire and notified you?
Bryan Ukena: I was actually in my office upstairs and was notified by the alarms. And we had to evacuate immediately and call the fire department.
David Fair: And the fire department has said getting to that fire was difficult because of the location in the facility. Trash had to be moved out by conveyors or could be extinguished. What kind of damage did the facility suffer?
Bryan Ukena: We actually didn't suffer a great deal of damage to the equipment or to the person. We were very fortunate in both cases. The person that had breathed in smoke was released immediately from the hospital and was back at work within the hour. And the equipment--there was no immediate damage, and we continued to monitor. But we've not seen any permanent damage as well. So, we were very fortunate.
David Fair: Now you've been with Recycle Ann Arbor since 2018, and I don't recall off the top of my head, but have there been other fires there since you've arrived?
Bryan Ukena: There's been one other significant event, so this is called a significant fire event when the fire department is called out and they deploy equipment. And we've had one other incident similar, but we've many, many what we call near-misses, which are flame-ups that our staff is able to catch and drag outside before it becomes an issue. But we do have fire events that occur on a regular basis, and it's a growing problem for us.
David Fair: And that's exactly where we're headed with this conversation. Our Issues of the Environment conversation with Recycle Ann Arbor CEO Bryan Ukena continues on 89.1 WEMU. Now, the Ann Arbor Fire Department says the exact cause of the June fire will probably never be known given the amount of trash involved. There are a lot of folks that point to lithium-ion batteries though. Would you consider that a pretty good, educated guess?
Bryan Ukena: Yeah. Based on the fact that the fire was so localized and flamed up several times as it was being put out, those are both really good indicators that it was probably lithium-ion batteries, which is most of the issue with fires in the Materials Recovery Facility.
David Fair: What about those batteries that makes them so dangerous in this kind of facility?
Bryan Ukena: Yeah, that's a good point! So, there's a number of different types of lithium-ion batteries. There's a lot of lithium-ion batteries that are embedded in devices like vape devices and greeting cards and tennis shoes and things like that. And then, there are external lithium-ion batteries, which is like rechargeable batteries that you use in your tools and those kinds of things. And they're extremely dangerous because when you run over them with equipment or you compress them, they give off all their energy. And so, that can cause sparks and then flames and then also explosions. In worst-case scenario, they can cause explosion, so it's really the pressure of running over the battery.
David Fair: These batteries are becoming more omnipresent in all facets of life. As the head of Materials Recovery Facility and recycling organization, what is the best practice moving forward to accommodate our change in lifestyle?
Bryan Ukena: Absolutely! We're finding lithium-ion batteries in many, many more and more devices all the time. There's been an explosion of lithium-ion battery usage. And so, the best practices is to remove those lithium-ion batteries and then take them to the Washtenaw County Home Toxic Facility that can handle them separately. But putting them in the recycling bin is extremely dangerous because of what we're seeing with the fire. So, the best practice is to remove them and take them to Home Toxics. But there's even a larger issue in who's paying for these fires and how they're caused in and the producers of the material making sure that they let people know where those batteries can go, as opposed to recycling facilities.
David Fair: What might the cost of the community be when we have to experience more and more of these events?
Bryan Ukena: Yeah. Last year, there were over 5,000 fires in materials recovery facilities around the country. And what that's done is greatly increased the cost of insurance. It's gone from about 20 cents per $100 to well over $10 per $100 for a materials recovery facility because of the increased fires. And those costs are just passed on to the residents. There was a 41% increase in catastrophic fires. In other words, the facility burned to the ground. So, the costs are massive, and those costs are generally passed on to the consumer. So, what we really need to do is get to the root or to the heart of the issue, which is the producers of the batteries themselves.
David Fair: And what progress, if any, has been made on that front?
Bryan Ukena: We're making good progress! I am part of a group: the Michigan Recycling Coalition, whose executive director is Kerrin O'Brien. And she's leading the charge to get urgently needed legislation passed to help the manufacturers of these materials help the recyclers in controlling these costs. That legislation has not been introduced, but it's in the process. And we're advocating strongly for it. Kerrin O'Brien with the Michigan Recycling Coalition is leading that charge, and she's making great progress in that area.
David Fair: We're talking with Recycle Ann Arbor CEO Bryan Ukena on this week's edition of WEMU's Issues of the Environment. You know, personal accountability and responsibility--that is a big part of the discussion as well. I know that in each residence I've moved into, I was given a trash can, a recycle bin and no further instruction. What's our best resource to better understand the do's and don'ts of trash and recycling?
Bryan Ukena: Sure. We have Recycle Ann Arbor, who's a private non-profit organization. We have in a A-Z guide. You can go online at recycleannarbor.org and take a look. You can give us a call. We have a hotline. There are also a number of resources on our website related to proper handling of lithium-ion batteries. So, the city also has a website that can be helpful in that area. As I mentioned, the Washtenaw County Home Toxics Facility actually accepts those materials, and they can help. It really is up to each of us. It's difficult though, Dave, when you look on the bottom of a lithium-ion battery on a rechargeable tube for a tool or something, it has a giant recycling chasing arrows on the bottom. A lot of people think, "Well, if it's got the chasing arrows in the bottom, then I can put it in in my recycling cart." And that's just an issue of truth in recycling. So, the manufacturers of these products really need to let people know that they can't go in the cart because it can be very confusing.
David Fair: Until such time, we're all going to have to be responsible for making sure we understand what is and isn't accepted. Bryan, to expand on the question of what we recycle, how are we doing in terms of overall recycle rates in Washtenaw County?
Bryan Ukena: We're doing good! We have slipped a little bit in the City of Ann Arbor, but, in other parts of the county, we're doing actually better than we've done in the past. I think it's difficult when you measure the success of recycling by the amount of tonnage that you recycle because all of the products are being what they call lightweighted. In other words, they're making them thinner and thinne, which is, environmentally, a great thing. So, that does decrease the tonnage as well. So overall, our capture rate is good. We're doing well. We could do much better. And also with the contamination that's going in the bins, that contamination rate has increased in the last couple of years. So, that's something we can do a little bit better with. Again, that has to do with outreach and education. We really need to focus on that and devote energy and funds toward that.
David Fair: As I understand it, there's been a drop in aluminum recycling that not only poses an environmental risk, but it's something that provides a good percentage of operational income from its sale. What is the plan to increase aluminum recycling?
Bryan Ukena: Yeah. So, the best way to recycle your bottles and cans is to take them back to the redemption facilities at the retail stores, at the front of the store, the recycling centers, because they stay separated. And then, they can be cleaned and used to higher and better use. So, if you can use that redemption system as much as you can, that's going to get you a better environmental result. And there is a group--Michigan Environmental Coalition--here in Ann Arbor, and they're statewide. And they're looking at ways to increase that redemption rate because really what's fallen off is people bringing their material back to those retail stores and getting it redeemed more so than the curbside or in your cart materials. So, what we want to do is is really encourage the use of those redemption centers if possible.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for the time and conversation today, Bryan! Much appreciated!
Bryan Ukena: Yeah, thank you! Thank you for the time!
David Fair: That is Recycle Ann Arbor CEO Bryan Ukena, our guest on Issues of the Environment. For more information on what can and cannot go into our recycle bins and to learn more about Recycle Ann Arbor and the Materials Recovery Facility, pay a visit to our website at WEMU.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM, Ypsilanti.
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