An e-cigarette thrown out with the rubbish caught fire in the back of a waste collection vehicle on its rounds.

The crew members were emptying things into the back of the truck when they saw the e-cigarette smouldering in a gap it had got stuck in.

If the e-cigarette had not fallen into this crevice, all of the rubbish in the truck could have been set on fire.

A spokesman for Dorset Waste Partnership said: "It was so lucky that it fell between this gap. It was just pure luck that it didn't end up in the back of the truck.

"Batteries, whether they have been spent or not, can have a huge environmental impact. They are absolutely horrible if they get into landfill.

"We do offer a battery bag service, which is the little pink bags, but most supermarkets also offer a battery collection service as well.

"We don't get a lot of these problems with regular household batteries but it can happen. In this case it was inside an e-cigarette.

"It might have been faulty or the button may have gotten stuck, causing it to over heat. These things can generate a very high temperature in order to vaporise the liquid inside."

Dorset Waste Partnership does recommend to residents that they never place batteries, or items containing batteries, in any household bin.

This is because many batteries contain some form of hazardous material. Some batteries contain lithium and others, such as the small 'button' batteries, can contain mercury.

Instead, e-cigarettes and other Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) should be taken to a recycling bank or centre. You can find your nearest one of these on the Partnership's website at https://tinyurl.com/y2o9jqk5

Most household batteries can be recycled at the kerbside using a battery bag. This includes AA, AAA, 'button' and rechargeable batteries.

The pink battery bag can not be used to dispose of mobile phone batteries, car batteries, laptop batteries or tablet batteries.

You can request a new pink battery bag at https://tinyurl.com/yy24vqoh

For more information about the Dorset Waste Partnership and what can be placed in which type of bin, please visit https://tinyurl.com/y3fpblty