Kooi, the specialist for mobile video surveillance and the international market leader for waste management systems Bollegraaf will work together to ensure that fires in European waste disposal and recycling companies do not even arise. Together they use intelligent cameras that can detect temperature increases long before the fire breaks out. Kooi has already prevented more than 350 incidents.
In the Netherlands alone, fires cause tens of millions of euros in damage every year. In the past three years, at least 243 fires have been recorded at disposal and recycling companies. This is the result of the latest figures from the risk analysis agency Burghgraef Van Tiel & Partners, which works with insurers across the country.
European cooperation
The world market leader Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions will provide waste disposal and recycling companies across Europe with the innovative Rising Early Detection (RED) system from Kooi, which, thanks to intelligent technology, detects an invisible rise in temperature at an early stage. In the event of an abnormal temperature rise, the Kooi alarm center, which monitors around the clock, receives an immediate notification. You take direct action and call security guards or fire fighters, for example.
An exclusive agreement has been concluded with Bollegraaf for the distribution of the RED system in Europe – with the prospect of global cooperation. The monitoring system initially ends up at around 100 disposal and recycling companies. In this way, Bollegraaf and Kooi are helping to reduce the risk of fires across Europe.
Growing number of (rechargeable) batteries
Waste fires are a big problem. Disposal companies fear an increase in heat in the waste storage facility, as this can result in fires. Possible sources of fire are often triggered by dangerous substances such as batteries. The amount of batteries is increasing from day to day, which is why the topic is very important and should be taken seriously – also because fires pose a threat to the environment and our health.
Fires also create costs for companies and insurers. Nivre, who has already spoken several times for the Association of Insurers in the Netherlands, put the damage costs at a total of 175 million euros over three years. “Reason for many insurers to cancel insurance,” wrote the organization in 2018.
Spontaneous fire
According to the Association of Disposal and Recycling Companies, a rule violation is almost never the cause of a fire, but stored waste is. CEO Pieter Kooi: “It’s a very serious problem for the industry. The risk of fire increases particularly during the summer, including at transshipment stations and sometimes even in garbage trucks. With intelligent technology, we can stay ahead of such invisible dangers. “
Bollegraaf Edmund Tenfelde, CEO: “The difference to existing fire protection solutions is that the entire process is automated and the RED system has a rotating thermometric camera that constantly records the temperature of the waste. Up until now, employees had to laboriously measure the temperature by hand – Measure infrared cameras on site. The RED system relieves the burden with a much more efficient mobile security system and has proven itself in companies in 22 European countries. “
Prevent hundreds of incidents
On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, Bollegraaf has regularly had to deal with fire problems at customers, both in the Netherlands and at disposal and recycling companies in other parts of the world. In Canada and the United States, at least 317 fire incidents were reported at disposal and recycling companies in 2020. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to fire protection specialist Fire Rover, who is collecting these numbers. In the UK, lithium-ion batteries are the leading cause of waste fires. According to a recent study by consulting firm Eunomia, the average cost of fires is $ 158 million per year.
Kooi: “Fire at disposal and recycling companies is a global problem. It is strange that the figures are not documented more clearly across the EU, while more and more devices are coming onto the market with batteries that all too often end up in the general waste. The problem affects us all. The production chain is at risk when raw materials obtained from recycling are lost in fire. Since the introduction of our system, the demand has increased significantly and luckily we have already prevented more than 350 incidents. Through awareness and preventive measures Measures can prevent many dangerous situations. “
About Bollegraaf
Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions BV is a leading global provider of sorting and recycling solutions. Bollegraaf has its own branches in various European countries, an extensive dealer organization in the USA and Canada and cooperations on all six continents. Recycling systems with a capacity of more than 70 to 100 tons per hour have been built for various customers around the world. The sorting and recycling systems designed by Bollegraaf Recycling Solution have received multiple awards, including from the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) for the Material Recycling Facility (MRF) in Houston, which Bollegraaf designed for recycling company FCC Environmental Services.