(NewsNation) — A recent fire at an Indiana recycling plant isn’t the only one of its kind — 2022 was the worst year for publicly reported fires at waste and recycling facilities in the U.S. and Canada, according to a new report.

The waste and recycling industry saw 390 fires last year, surpassing the average 326 annually since the report’s author Ryan Fogelman began collecting data in 2016. Those 390 fires only represent the incidents that were publicly reported, which isn’t required in the U.S. Fogelman estimates the real number is closer to 2,000.

Fogelman is a partner at the fire suppression company Fire Rover, which sells a product that helps waste and recycling facilities detect and put out fires. The company publishes Fogelman’s research, which he said he conducts independently.

“I love that people are starting to understand it because it is a big problem and I’ve literally been screaming from the rooftops since 2015,” Fogelman said.

What’s causing the fires?

While the cause of the fire in Indiana remains unclear, waste, paper and plastic fires increased last year, reaching 205 across the U.S. and Canada combined compared to 176 fires one year earlier.

Those materials are often carriers of other frequently improperly disposed of hazards including lithium-ion batteries, chemicals, gasoline and propane tanks.

“Unfortunately, we are creating bombs in our trash,” Fogelman said. “We’re not doing it deliberately, but we are doing it.

Waste management and recycling fires present unique health and safety risks to workers and first responders as well as larger environmental risks. While the details surrounding individual fires vary, improper disposal of lithium-ion batteries is a leading culprit, he said.

A separate 2021 report by the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency found seven facilities where people were injured in lithium battery fires.

Maintained properly, the batteries are generally safe, but waste management isn’t a gentle undertaking, Fogelman said.

“We take the trash, we dump it into a compactor,” he said. “We take it to a transfer station or an MRF (materials recovery facility) and then we put it through a bunch of conveyors and shredders… the process that we’ve created is going to cause an issue when you put things like propane tanks or lithium-ion batteries inside.”

The most common lithium-ion batteries noted as the cause of fires were cell phone batteries, followed by tablets and laptops, according to the EPA.

“Affected facilities were located in 28 different states spread across the country, reflecting the nationwide impact of this issue,” the EPA report read.

Where are they happening?

Last year, 32 U.S. states experienced an increase in reported facility fires compared to their prior six-year average, Fogelman found.

New Mexico, Louisiana, Montana, West Virginia, Vermont, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio and Colorado saw the most significant increases.

Those are just the fires that are publically reported.

Reporting tends to pick up more once people in the surrounding area raise concerns and there’s a greater push for transparency, Fogelman said. That means that more densely populated areas might see more publicly reported fires.

“When you’re in California, you’re going to have more fires reported than you would in Texas,” he said, “Because in Texas, you might have a facility that’s out on its own somewhere.”

What can be done?

Part of the solution is education.

Lithium-ion batteries and devices that contain them should not go in household garbage cans or recycling bins, according to the EPA. Instead, they should be disposed of at recycling or household hazardous waste collection points, which may include local fire departments and city recycling drop-offs.

To prevent fires, lithium-ion batteries should be placed in separate plastic bags, according to the EPA.

Even then, fire will continue to be a risk in waste management.

Moving forward, Fogelman said manufacturers of potentially hazardous material should help shoulder the responsibility of keeping facilities safe in the event of an emergency. That includes securing updated fire safeguards, since sprinklers’ tend to have too-delayed a response in high-ceiling facilities, he said.

“I would prefer if the manufacturers supported the waste and recycling operators, and either help them with their insurance or allow them to purchase technology — through grants or loans — allow them to purchase these systems,” he said.