Lithium battery fires

Lithium batteries have caused fires in the rubbish lorries. Please do not put batteries in your waste or recycling bin. All batteries (including lithium batteries from e-bikes and e-scooters and other re-chargeable devices) can be taken to the Reuse and Recycling Centre at Northumberland Wharf.


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What are we doing

In order to combat poor air quality, the entire borough was declared an air quality management area (AQMA) in 2000. This requires that a five year air quality action plan (AQAP) be drawn up and an annual status report (ASR) be submitted to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the GLA to monitor progress.

Air quality action plan

The Council’s current air quality action plan (AQAP) is broadly divided into nine topics:

  1. London Local Air Quality Management (LLAQM): Our statutory requirements under the LLAQM regime, such as annual reporting on pollution levels.

  2. Developments and buildings: emissions from buildings account for about 15 per cent of the NOX emissions across London so are important in affecting NO2 concentrations; 

  3. Major Infrastructure Projects: Ensuring any major infrastructure projects in the borough do not adversely impact air quality;

  4. Public health and awareness raising: increasing awareness can drive behavioural change to lower emissions as well as to reduce exposure to air pollution;

  5. Delivery servicing and freight: vehicles delivering goods and services are usually light and heavy duty diesel-fuelled vehicles with high primary NO2 emissions;

  6. Borough fleet actions: our fleet includes light and heavy duty diesel-fuelled vehicles such as mini buses and refuse collection vehicles with high primary NO2 emissions. Tackling our own fleet means we will be leading by example;

  7. Localised solutions: these seek to improve the environment of neighbourhoods through a combination of measures; 

  8. Cleaner transport: road transport is the main source of air pollution in London. We need to incentivise a change to walking, cycling and ultra-low emission vehicles (such as electric) as far as possible.

  9. Lobbying and partnership working: working with stakeholders including National Government, the Greater London Authority & Transport for London to ensure policies adequately address the issue of air quality.

See our Action plan for more information and learn more about our Breathe Clean Campaign.

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