A bag of trash burns following inappropriate disposal of a lithium-ion battery, in this photo provided by the Tokyo Fire Department.
TOKYO — The Tokyo Fire Department is urging residents to appropriately dispose of lithium-ion batteries and spray cans following a series of fires in the capital.
In addition to fires at people’s homes, inappropriate disposal of such items has sparked many fires in garbage trucks, which can lead to injuries or even major disasters.
According to preliminary figures released by the fire department, lithium-ion batteries caused 125 accidental fires last year. Of those, 22 occurred when consumers destroyed or disassembled the batteries by themselves.
Spray cans additionally caused 101 fires during the same period. Of those, 25 occurred when people tried to vent the gas or put a hole in the cans to…