New research from the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, has revealed that an incredible £1.7b was spent on 183m FastTech (cheap) Christmas lights (and the batteries for them!) ahead of Christmas.
But whilst these lights brighten the winter months during the solstice, there’s a challenging side too. The reality is, that as quickly as we buy our festive lights, we are almost as quickly binning them. Over a year, 168m light-up items and FastTech gifts ended up in the bin, causing hundreds of battery fires across the UK.
As a nation, it’s clear we can’t get enough of twinkly lights come December, but research has revealed the impact of these lights – many contain batteries that when binned or incorrectly recycled are behind the surge of fires in the waste stream. This Christmas, Recycle Your Electricals is calling on the nation to help prevent these fires by instead recycling broken and unwanted lights, batteries and other FastTech Christmas gifts.
Christmas lights in particular signal the entry into the merriest of seasons, a love so strong we bought the equivalent of six light-up items a second ahead of last Christmas – from 39m Christmas fairy lights to a variety of novelty light-up items, including stars and wreaths, snow globes and reindeer. They adorn our homes, our gardens, our living spaces and spread Christmas cheer.
Many FastTech or light-up electrical items are powered by batteries which, if they end up in the wrong bin, get crushed and damaged in bin and recycling lorries and spark dangerous fires that put firefighters, waste workers and the communities we live in at serious risk. There were over 1,200 battery fires during 2023-24 in bins and waste centres, an increase of 71% from 2022 – with many taking place in bin lorries, waste centres and recycling centres as a result of batteries and electricals being binned or incorrectly recycled. Earlier research from Recycle Your Electricals has found that 1.1b of all types of electricals and 449.9m loose volatile batteries have been binned – each a potential fire waiting to happen.
These fires are extremely challenging, often leading to explosions and chemical exposure, as they create their own oxygen, which means they can keep reigniting, prolonging incidents with smoke and fumes affecting neighbouring areas and communities for long periods of time.
Scott Butler, Executive Director, Material Focus, which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, says, “We’re not the Grinch. We also find twinkly lights irresistible at Christmas. We understand FastTech Christmas lights and gifts, and the traditions around them, help make Christmas the most joyful time of year for many. But as we reach the new year the novelty’s worn off or the festive lights have broken yet again, why not start 2026 by creating your own positive impact? If it can’t be fixed, donated or sold, always recycle them. Electricals with hidden batteries must always be recycled separately from your household rubbish and recycling.
And as we approach the busiest time of year for our waste and fire services, many of whom also work on Christmas Day, Recycle Your Electricals wants to celebrate the Unsung Heroes tackling and preventing battery fires and keeping us safe. Joining our firefighting heroes who keep us safe on the frontline are our waste workers: the Bin Lorry Operators, to the Waste Site workers who sort through discarded tech, educate colleagues and crucially, prevent fires from happening at all.
Each of our ten heroes know the devastating impacts of these fires. With the National Fire Chiefs Council warning that “fires involving lithium-ion batteries are a disaster waiting to happen”, first responders, particularly the fire services, can often find themselves tackling suspected battery fires for days, especially in waste centres.
