Fontys Eindhoven · student startup · problem validation

Catch the battery,
not the fire.

The law says batteries must come out, but hands can't find what they can't see.

Follow a battery Talk to us

Waste facility fire, NSW, Australia. Footage: Fire and Rescue NSW via Storyful.

01 — The problem

More e-waste than ever.
Batteries hiding inside it.

Recyclers are told to take every battery out before the shredder. Many cells are glued deep inside devices. These are the numbers we found, with their sources.

271,084 t

e-waste (WEEE) collected in the Netherlands in 2025, a record, but still about 72% against an 85% target.1

100 million

batteries ended up in Dutch household residual waste in 2025. About 26 million of them were inside appliances.2

~80%

of lithium-ion batteries are built into the device, according to a recycling industry manager. Industry estimate.3

~30 / day

battery fires in German waste plants and collection trucks, as reported by the German waste industry associations. Industry estimate.4

53%

of 109 surveyed European WEEE plants reported battery fires in 2018. Self-reported industry survey.5

€100M / year

material damage from fires at French collection, sorting and recycling sites, "up to" per year. One fire every two weeks; over 60% linked to lithium batteries and gas cylinders. Industry estimate.13

€50M in 2023

yearly cost of major insurance claims (>€2M each) in the French waste sector, up from €19M in 2019. All causes; the Senate links the rise to lithium batteries. France Assureurs data.14

£1,048M / year

estimated UK cost of battery-related waste fires in 2023, up from £158M in 2021. Industry-commissioned estimate (ESA / Eunomia).15

Single fires

🇫🇷 France · 2023

Éco-Pôle sorting line, Chêne-en-Semine

€55M

New sorting line destroyed months after opening. Fire started by a lithium battery; damage estimate reported by the press during legal dispute.16

🇩🇪 Germany · 2025

Hündgen sorting site, Swisttal

≥ €2M

600 t of packaging waste burned for four days. Cause confirmed: a lithium-ion battery damaged in a shredder.17

🇩🇪 Germany · 2025

WRZ Hörger LVP sorting, Sontheim

€1.5–2M

Sorting plant and hall a total loss; sorting suspended into 2026. Operator suspects misdisposed batteries (not yet confirmed).18

🇳🇱 Netherlands · 2022

ROVA transfer hall, Amersfoort

~ €0.5M

Bulky-waste hall burned out at night. Likely cause: the battery of a toy RC car. Rough estimate.19

02 — Scroll story

From your home
to the shredder.

Follow one small appliance with a lithium cell glued inside it.

  1. Step 1 · Home

    A drawer full of old devices

    Phones, vapes, toothbrushes and toys sit at home for years. In Germany alone there are more than 300 million unused phones, tablets and laptops in homes.6

  2. Step 2 · Bin or drop-off

    The right bin, or the wrong one

    Some devices reach a shop return box or the municipal drop-off site. Others go into the residual bag. In 2025 the Dutch residual waste held about 28 loose batteries per tonne.2

  3. Step 3 · Collection truck

    Crushed in the press

    The packer in a collection truck squeezes each load. A crushed cell can go into thermal runaway. The Dutch waste sector reports a truck fire "at least three times a month". Industry estimate.7

  4. Step 4 · Intake & sortingThe blind spot

    Hands can't find what they can't see

    At the recycler, workers pick out batteries by hand. EU law says batteries must be removed from collected e-waste.8 But a cell glued inside a device is easy to miss.3

  5. Step 5 · Shredder

    Where the missed cell is found, too late

    The shredder tears devices apart and punctures every cell it meets. EuRIC puts the cost of a battery fire at about €190k for a smaller event and €1.3m for a severe one. Industry estimate.9

03 — Why now

The rules are tightening.

Already law

Batteries out before treatment

The WEEE Directive (Annex VII) requires batteries to be removed from separately collected e-waste.8

18 Feb 2027

Removable by the user

EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542, Art. 11: portable batteries in products must be readily removable and replaceable by the end user, with some exceptions.10

2027 → 2030

Higher collection targets

Portable batteries: 63% collected by end 2027, 73% by end 2030.11

Devices already in homes were built before these rules, and Art. 11 has exceptions. Our team's view (not a measured fact): hidden cells will keep reaching recyclers for years.

04 — Your numbers

What could one fire cost you?

A simple calculator. You enter your own numbers, and nothing leaves your browser.

Illustrative estimate only

Fire cost calculator

This is simple arithmetic on your inputs. It is not a quote, a prediction, or advice. Fields start empty on purpose.

Total damage / year—
Paid by you (deductible + downtime) / year—

Illustrative estimate: your inputs × simple arithmetic. Not a quote, prediction or advice.

Reference figures from public sources (not defaults)
  • EuRIC: about €190k (smaller) and €1.3m (severe) per battery fire. Industry estimate.9
  • A Belgian insurance broker: deductibles of "at least €250,000" are now standard. Industry estimate.12

05 — Mission

Recyclers need better tools.
We want to find out which ones.

We are six students at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven. We have not chosen a solution. Right now we are testing the problem: where batteries slip through, and what the people at intake and sorting actually need. If you work in waste, recycling, insurance or fire safety, we would like to learn from you.

  • HHamza
  • PPaul
  • BBora
  • MMarcell
  • YYigael
  • PPetko

06 — Stay updated

Talk to us.

Tell us how batteries show up at your site, or leave your email to hear what we learn.

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