{"id":623809,"date":"2026-10-08T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623809\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:00:15","slug":"costly-recycling-mistakes-30-vape-sparks-2-5m-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623809\/","title":{"rendered":"Costly recycling mistakes: $30 vape sparks $2.5m headache"},"content":{"rendered":"

The alarm that rings through the Blenheim Waste Sorting Centre resembles a starting gun, as nine recycle operators prepare to receive the first load of the day.<\/p>\n

By Kira Carrington of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

“Let\u2019s go team,” Marlborough district councillor Cyril Dawson called.<\/p>\n

The sorting centre marked its reopening on Wednesday, 11 months after a discarded lithium-ion battery, believed to be from a vape, sparked a $2.5m fire that left the building structurally damaged.<\/p>\n

Dawson had started the day by cutting a blue ribbon between two road cones, before heading onto the sorting line.<\/p>\n

As the recycling made its way down the conveyor belt, many hands worked at lightning speed, sorting the jumble of cans, punnets, bottles and cardboard.<\/p>\n

Dawson\u2019s job was aluminium, grabbing cans and throwing them down a long hatch into a concrete bin. He was so focused that he barely got a few words out to Local Democracy Reporting.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s [about] looking at what you\u2019ve got to pick up. You are moving fast, you\u2019ve definitely got to focus. That [aluminium] bin is filling up fast,” Dawson said, reaching for the next can.<\/p>\n

\"Cyril<\/p>\n

Cyril Dawson on the sorting line at the newly reopened Blenheim Waste Sorting Centre. Dawson said sorting took a lot of speed and focus. (Source: LDR \/ Kira Carrington) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

The team had worked for barely a few minutes before the conveyor came to an emergency stop, a plastic bag full of lettuce had been found.<\/p>\n

“This happens all the time,” team leader Heather Boyd said. They had received dog poo, full nappies, and sanitary items.<\/p>\n

Dawson pulled a full can of whiskey cola from the belt.<\/p>\n

Last week, a lamb carcass was found. It wasn\u2019t the first carcass, Boyd said, they\u2019d seen pigs, cats, and dogs as well.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

A lamb carcass found on the recycling conveyor last week. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Regardless, Boyd said that she enjoyed her job. Working in waste management had opened up opportunities like getting her forklift licence. The team themselves were “like a wh\u0101nau”, she said.<\/p>\n

Council solid waste manager Mark Lucas said people being careless with their recycling sometimes put the recycle team in danger.<\/p>\n

Last November\u2019s fire had been caused by a lithium-ion battery from a suspected disposable vape, Lucas said.<\/p>\n

“It was in the cardboard and they ran over it with a forklift which started the fire. One little act of carelessness, a $30 vape, has caused $2.5 million worth of damage.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The fire was caused by a lithium ion battery suspected to be from a disposable vape. Lucas said repairs took 11 months and cost $2.5m. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

It took four months to set up a temporary facility while the centre was rebuilt. In those months the region\u2019s recycling was trucked to Christchurch, costing $160,000 a month.<\/p>\n

Lucas said one of the biggest dangers was sharp objects, including nails, needles, Epi-pens, catheter lines, and cutting blades. The centre had filled a 22-litre bucket with sharp objects in six weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Council<\/p>\n

Council solid waste manager Mark Lucas said the centre had filled a 22-litre bucket with sharp objects in six weeks. (Source: LDR \/ Kira Carrington) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

The team wore through a pair of $80 protective gloves each week, but that didn\u2019t stop needle jabs from happening, Lucas said. A “needle stick”, because of the potential for hepatitis and HIV\/AIDS, meant nine to 12 months of testing to be safe, he said.<\/p>\n

“We can’t stress enough that people have got to be better. For this team up here, [the conveyor belt] is their desk in their office.<\/p>\n

“If somebody came and dropped the dead lamb on your desk, it would not be acceptable.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The alarm that rings through the Blenheim Waste Sorting Centre resembles a starting gun, as nine recycle operators…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[16256,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-623809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-marlborough","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}