CATUS, France — Every day at the Syded waste treatment plant in the Lot region of southwestern France, the company collects, sorts and treats up to 80 metric tons of household and business waste.
And every day, its 266 employees have to look out for an electric toothbrush, a single-use vape or a broken toy that could set the whole place on fire.
“Had you called me four or five years ago I would have said [fires occur] ‘from time to time,’ but now the risk of fire defines my day-to-day,” said Hervé Coulaud, environment director at the Syded plant.
The problem, it turns out, is batteries — specifically, lithium-ion batteries. As the technology has advanced and the batteries have become smaller and more efficient, they’ve shown up in ever more household goods, from musical birthday cards to diapers that beep when they’re too wet.
