Residents urged to ‘avoid the burn’ this summer with safe disposal of flammable materials
Tuesday 13 May 2025
Following a recent fire at the Plan B depot in Tondu, residents are being warned to not put highly flammable items with their kerbside recycling or refuse collections.
The small blaze, which occurred in the depot’s baling machine, was contained by Plan B staff before firefighters arrived, and was found to have been caused by a number of highly flammable items including gas cannisters and expanding foam tins.
Opening days and times for the community recycling centres in the county borough can be found on our website.
For more information on recycling in Bridgend County Borough, visit the council’s website.
Thanks to the quick response from staff at Plan B and firefighters at the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, the fire was able to be contained, without further damage. Aerosol deodorant cans and other household items such as air fresheners can be placed into your blue recycling sacks along with plastics and metals, but lighting devices, cooking and heating gas canisters, aerosol spray paints, industrial aerosol varnishes and expanding foam tins are not suitable and should be disposed of safely at our community recycling centres in Brynmenyn, Maesteg and Pyle. Once plastics and metals are collected by the crews, they get compressed at the depot into bails for further processing. Items such as these should never be placed out with regular household recycling as they contain traces of propane or butane, and this creates a dangerous combination once they have been compressed alongside flammable materials. Whilst these fires can occur all year round, during periods of warmer weather the risk is heightened due to drier waste materials and the disposal of explosive materials such as camping gas and barbecue ashes. To recycle safely this summer, and throughout the year, these and other highly flammable common household items such as vape devices, cigarette lighters, other compressed gas canisters (including patio gas and nitrous oxide), lighter fuel, fireworks or old petrol, should also be safely disposed of at our community recycling centres.