Fire crews are tackling a major fire involving plastic waste at a warehouse near Stoke-on-Trent.
Firefighters from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the site at Redhills Road, Milton, at 8.21am yesterday (5 February) after reports of a fire and have remained on site into today.
A picture from the Milton site issued by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
The site is known to have been occupied by Hanbury Plastics Recycling Ltd, although the company was placed into administration in 2015. It had received financial support from WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme).
Current ownership and responsibility for the site is unclear.
A company called HPR Stoke Ltd applied for an environmental permit for the site at the end of 2015. Richard Devine is currently listed as the director of HPR Stoke Ltd and previously worked for Hanbury Plastics Recycling Ltd.
At the height of the incident there had been over 50 firefighters tackling the fire in a response which involved six fire engines, sent from Hanley, Sandyford, Leek, and Newcastle along with a control vehicle from Stone, aerial ladder platform from Longton and a high volume pump from Rugeley.
According to the Fire Service, the fire has engulfed an area of close to 200 x 150 metres of the building which contained waste plastics.
Building
Commenting on the incident, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue group manager, Toby Wilson, said: “The roof of the building has collapsed and so no firefighters have been sent inside. Instead we’ve surrounded the fire and are fighting it externally and we’ve used the aerial ladder platform to tackle it from above.
“We’ve required large volumes of water which we are pumping from the canal and we’ve been working closely with the Environment Agency to ensure the environment is protected from any run off water.“
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway this morning, involving officers from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue and the Environment Agency.
Impacts
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Our officers are back on site this morning to check for any environmental impacts. We’re continuing to divert all firewater in order to prevent any pollution to local watercourses.
“As part of a multi-agency response, we continue to work with the fire service, police and Stoke-on-Trent city council to put emergency measures in place to mitigate fire risks and limit any impact on the environment.”
Commenting on behalf of the plastics recycler, Mr Devine, said: “We are not in a position to speculate regarding the cause of fire at this moment whilst investigations are ongoing by the relevant authorities. We would however like to thank Staffordshire Fire Services for their efforts and attention, especially John Beresford – business support lead – for his kind attention.”
Fire in Milton, Stoke – keep windows and doors closed if your near the area – follow @staffsfire for updates. #alert pic.twitter.com/lkCWBSzr04
— Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) February 5, 2017
Hanbury, which had been operating at the Redhills Road site near Milton since 2011 was placed into administration in 2015 with Manchester-based asset recovery firm CG&Co instructed to oversee the administration of the company.
Operations
The site had capacity to sort up to 20,000 tonnes of mixed rigid plastics per year.
The facility had been set up with the support of £440,000 in capital funding from the European Regional Development Fund, which was secured through WRAP and used to finance the procurement of sorting equipment for use at the Milton site.
According to a case study published by WRAP, the site had been capable of sorting seven streams of polymer – film, clear and coloured HDPE, clear and coloured PET, coloured polypropylene, and polystyrene. Sorted polymers were mainly traded to UK processors, the case study claims.
The post Fire crews tackle Staffordshire plastic waste blaze appeared first on letsrecycle.com.