The Kaohsiung City Environmental Protection Bureau has warned that damaged lithium batteries still hold residual charge and can catch fire if handled improperly, posing a risk to both the public and recycling operators.

• Lithium batteries in mobile phones, laptops and power banks still carry a charge even when broken, and can reach high temperatures if crushed and short-circuited.
• Before disposal, the public should follow three steps — sort, insulate and recycle — and must not mix batteries with general waste or scrap metal.
• If a battery is swollen, cracked, leaking, hot to the touch or emitting smoke, do not attempt to dismantle or crush it; hand it over to professionals.
• Recycling facilities should improve identification and separation, avoid large accumulations of stored batteries, and use patrols to buy time for firefighting in the early stages of a blaze.

Outlook: With consumer electronics and power banks in ever wider use, the fire risk from lithium batteries will only rise in the near term, making safety management a key concern at the recycling end.