This month has seen the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go hit the UK by storm, with adults and children alike hunting near and far for Jigglypuffs and Charizards roaming around the actual world.

However, many players seem to be forgetting about the real world dangers they face as their quest leads them to dangerous areas like recycling centres and landfill sites.

According to reports, there have already been a number of incidents where both adults and children have entered dangerous waste-processing areas, oblivious of the risk they are putting themselves in, and now the public has been warned to beware of the dangers of wandering onto sites operating in one of the UK’s most dangerous industries.

Pokémon Go uses the cameras on gamers’ phones to overlay the monsters from the Japanese cartoon into the real world. Players must scout out locations, noted on maps on the app, to find and catch the Pokémon, all while looking at the phone’s screen.

While the game has been praised for encouraging players to go outside, its limited ability to situate Pokémon in suitable and safe spaces has seen Pokémon Go players being found in a number of risky places, with three teenagers even finding their way into a nuclear power plant in the US.

Now Yorkshire-based waste management company BusinessWaste.co.uk has noted several examples of players putting themselves in danger at waste sites.

‘There’s a Jigglypuff here, give me two minutes’

Examples that the company claims to have encountered include an oblivious adult that had to be asked to leave a waste and recycling site after been spotting playing the game around plant machinery and a whole family that was found scouring an active landfill site searching for Pokémon before being escorted to safety and given advice about the dangers associated with entering such sites.

The company also says that workers were told by a teenager climbing on industrial bins that “there’s a Jigglypuff here, give me two minutes” as the youngster sought out Pokémon behind a factory, oblivious to the metallic waste on which he was climbing. Finally, a close call was reported as two youths stepped out in front of a bin lorry as they made their way to a nearby ‘Pokestop’.

Several accidents caused by the game have already been reported. In America, where the game has been out for longer, two men were injured in California when they fell down a 90-foot cliff, and there have been several reports of Pokémon Go players being hit by cars while playing the game. In the UK, Pokémon trainers have been found endangering themselves in caves, river channels and even on railway lines.

Warning members of the public to be careful about wandering onto waste sites, Mark Hall, a spokesperson for BusinessWaste.co.uk, said: “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Our clients all over the country are reporting similar problems.

“We've nothing against Pokémon Go, and we know that players are warned to be aware of their surroundings in a message on the home screen, but it's a warning that's being ignored.

"Real life isn't like a game, you don't get to go back to the beginning if you're killed. Steer clear of rubbish tips and recycling plants, it's not worth it."

The dangers of the waste industry

The waste and resources industry is one of the most dangerous in the UK. Last month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released figures revealing the industry has one of the highest rates of worker fatalities in Great Britain, with six people being killed during waste operations, 5.71 deaths for every 100,000 people working in the sector. The previous year, 2014/15, was even worse, with 11 fatal injuries, including six sustained by members of the public.

In April this year four people, three members of the public and one bin lorry operator were killed in incidents with collection vehicles and just last month five workers were killed and one seriously injured in a single incident at a Birmingham recycling site.

This serves as a reminder to all members of the public, especially Pokémon Go players, of the dangerous nature of these places and that they are not places to play.