According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), how many municipal waste facilities had a fire because of lithium-ion batteries in 2021?

• A. At least 20
• B. At least 90
• C. At least 65
• D. At least 5

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is understanding how big the problem was, according to EPA data from 2021. The EPA reported that there were at least 65 municipal waste facilities that experienced a fire caused by lithium-ion batteries that year. This reflects how dangerous these batteries can be when they're damaged or mishandled in the waste stream, since heat, short circuits, or thermal runaway can ignite surrounding materials and create challenging fires to fight.

That “at least” phrasing matters because some incidents may not be fully reported, so the EPA presents a minimum figure. It’s higher than very small counts like five or twenty, which understate the scope, but it’s not claimed to be as high as ninety, which would imply a much larger, implausible reach given the available data. This number highlights the need to keep lithium-ion batteries out of regular trash and to follow proper disposal and recycling protocols to reduce such fires.