Effective waste management practices are not only to do with quick and timely rubbish removal from urban or industrial areas. Proper waste management is a complex chain of events, technologies and processing steps in which every stage is important as it facilitates the next one, thus closing the circle of sustainable waste management. Even seemingly insignificant things like keeping rodents and wild animals out of urban rubbish bins is highly important for efficient waste management, especially important in heavily urbanised districts. The City of Toronto, Canada recently implemented new model, racoon-proof rubbish bins which keep the rodents out, thus saving property owners and local authorities many expenses and unnecessary hassles.
The United Kingdom is about to introduce and implement a different, yet just as important change in rubbish removal and waste management – fire retardant bin lids. Bin fires are a problem all over the world, things like hot ashes and liquids, burning cigarette buds and a whole host of other things can easily cause rubbish inside bins to catch fire. Not all bin fires lead to worse things as usually bins are out in the open, but nevertheless many properties (residential and commercial), as well as motor vehicles in close proximity to burning bins can be at risk.
The UK’s main rubbish bin manufacturer and supplier has decided to take care of things by introducing the FRLID which basically stands for Fire Retardant Lid. This comes as the result of an increasing number of reports that burning bins are on the increase and most of them result in (sometime serious) public fires, exposing public and property to unnecessary risk. Basically, the FRLID is a high grade plastic polymer which is chemically designed to withstand fire and high temperature. The manufacturer has disseminated an official video of FRLID testing showing the dramatic difference and benefit of using fire retardant bin lid materials as opposed to conventional bin lids in use until now.
When a rubbish bin catches fire, a conventional lid basically acts as fuel because molten plastic is leaking down into the fire, also bringing in more oxygen (the bin is lidless – lid is melted, leaving the bin exposed to air). The FRLID which is made of heat resistant materials, will retain its shape without melting or leaking into the fire, even in extremely high temperatures. What’s even better – since the lid will remain almost entirely in tact during a bin fire, it will starve flames beneath for oxygen, which in turn makes extinguishing the fire easier.
Field tests and manufacturer provided videos show that a standard bin lid will melt in about sixty seconds when set on fire. Within two minutes of ignition, the lid is almost entirely melted and flames are protruding from the bin. In ten minutes’ time, the entire bin contents is ablaze.
In contrast, the FRLID will remain intact for much longer than ten minutes without allowing for flames to come out, or for oxygen to come into the bin. In tests, only a small amount of smoke, without visible flames appeared over the burning bin. Temperature inside and around the burning bin was also recorded to be much lower, preventing a larger fire.