Fire breaks out at Environcom WEEE recycling plant

WEEE recycling firm Environcom has suffered disruption to operations at its treatment plant in Grantham, Lincolnshire, after a fire broke out at the site during the early hours of this morning (February 28).

The fire, which was discovered at around 3am, began in a piece of fridge recycling machinery at the 10 million recycling and reuse plant at Houghton Lane, which has the capacity to treat around 100,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) per year.

Lincolnshire fire has confirmed that the fire has now been completely extinguished, after six fire crews attended the site.

Environcom has been forced to divert some deliveries to its Dudley plant while investigations on the site are carried out by fire crews and the Environment Agency. The Dudley facility was only recently acquired by Environcom, after it bought out rival firm Overton Recycling which had entered administration (see letsrecycle.com story).

The firm hopes to have the Grantham plant fully operational again shortly and says that disruption to customers will be minimal.

Impact

A statement issued on behalf of the company this afternoon said: We can confirm that there was a small fire at Environcom, the waste electrical recycler, in Grantham this morning. The fire occurred in a piece of fridge recycling machinery in the early hours of the morning, but it was contained very quickly by the onsite engineers and Fire Brigade. All staff were evacuated from the site as soon as the fire was detected and there have been no injuries.

There will be minimal interruption for our customers and we will be maintaining our fridge recycling capacity by diverting some customer deliveries to our fridge plant in the West Midlands. The Environment Agency is on site at the moment in order to review the situation and confirm we can maintain normal operation across the plant. Other than that, it will be business as normal.

Environcom chief executive Sean Feeney added: We would like to thank the whole team including the fire brigade for responding quickly and effectively to minimise risk and loss.
A fire had previously damaged a large area of the site in 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story) which meant that the facility had to be entirely rebuilt.

The company subsequently faced a High Court battle after its 5 million claim to insurers over the fire was rejected. A judge upheld the original decision not to award compensation to the firm.