Fire and rescue crews from Surrey, East and West Sussex were called to what emergency services dubbed a major fire at industrial units which include eReco recycling on the Hobbs Industrial Estate in Newchapel yesterday morning (October 3) at 11.23am.
In total, 12 appliances, one aerial ladder platform and three water carriers were sent to the scene, Surrey Police and Surrey Fire & Rescue Service said in a joint statement. The fire occurred in a single-storey building and crews initially worked to tackle the fire and protect the surrounding premises using foam and water to bring it under control.
Cylinders
Progress was slow and difficult due to the presence of bulk liquid petroleum gas and liquid petroleum gas cylinders, which were exposed to heat from the fire and the various chemicals used and stored on the premises.
The surrounding buildings were evacuated as a precautionary measure and those in the immediate vicinity were expected to remain closed until today.
All people known to be in the premises at the time of the fire have now been accounted for. In total eight people, of whom four were seriously injured and four less seriously so, were removed to hospital by the ambulance service. South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) invoked their contingency plans to transport them to hospitals around the region.
As yet, it is not known whether the fire started within the eRemco site or spread to it from adjacent units.
Dedicated toner bottle plant
eRecos site is home to a dedicated toner bottle and print consumable recycling plant which the company claims is the first and only one of its kind in the UK. The site is also an approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) under the UK waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations, offering services for business-to-business waste electricals.
On its website, the company, which has the full name eReco EMEA Corporation Ltd, says it isthe preferred recycling partner for several major print manufacturers, including Canon, IKON, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Oce and Sharp.
It cites Canon as the first company to utilise its toner bottle recycling service, which involves the company collecting spent toner cartridges and bottles from companies nationwide and then recycling them at the Newchapel site.
Here, the firm uses a print consumable recycling plant, which according to its website was designed by the Company’s MD Jane Taylor in conjunction with specialist engineers, the plant is capable of processing many tons of print consumables per day, largely diverted from landfill.
This is good news for the environment because the material is reintroduced into the manufacturing stream which means there will be less plundering of natural resources.
According to the Environment Agencys public register, the firms toner cartridge operations are run under an exemption, which means they do not require an environmental permit. The exemptions are T16, which covers treatment of waste toner cartridges by sorting, dismantling, cleaning or refilling, and T4, which applies to preparatory treatments (baling, sorting, shredding etc).
Ms Taylor, who is a former journalist, or any other spokesman for the company could not be contacted for comment this morning (October 4).
Canon
However, a spokeswoman for Canon confirmed the company was a client of eReco and was aware of the explosion and fire at its facility. “We’re aware of the explosion and fire,” she told letsrecycle.com. “We are a client of eReco. We understand some members of staff have been injured and our sympathies are with them and their families.”
She added: 2Canon are in contact with the senior management team at eReco.2
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