Loddon Recycling, which sorts waste portable batteries for four out of the UKs six compliance schemes, has insisted its sorting operations have been unaffected by a major blaze which destroyed a storage warehouse at its Hampshire base.
More than 300 tonnes of used alkaline, zinc chloride and lithium batteries were stored in the warehouse at Lasham near Alton when the fire broke out on Friday (August 26) evening.
At the height of the blaze, over 75 firefighters were in attendance, together with 16 officers and other support staff. Fire appliances from seven fire stations in Hampshire, as well as crews from Surrey in Berkshire were moblised to tackle the fire.
Crews remained at the scene through the Bank Holiday weekend, first focusing on containing the blaze in the 300 metre by 100 metre warehouse and a secondary building containing commercial horse vehicles, and then, on Saturday (August 27), extinguishing the fire.
While the firefighting operation was scaled down on Sunday and Monday, crews have remained on site, both to pump contaminated water to specialist boswers for removal and to remove the batteries and other debris.
Business as usual
Speaking to letsrecycle.com this afternoon (August 31), Loddons managing director, Phil Stead, insisted it was business as usual for the companys main activity, which is sorting waste portable batteries.
He said: We have lost a chunk of our storage facility but we have three units all combined into one which is where our sorting facilities are and they are effectively unaffected.
Loddon sorts batteries on behalf of four of the six batteries compliance schemes, who provide the majority of the batteries the company stores, sorts and then sends overseas for recycling.
Mr Stead said the company had been in touch with its customers such as the schemes to ensure it could still provide these services to the level they required, despite the loss of storage space.
We cant increase the storage in the immediate short-term because we still need room for sorting, but if we turn around the sorting a little bit quicker, that will help. Were also talking to our customers to ensure we can still provide them with the facilities they require but keep it in the requirements of the Environment Agency, he said.
Compliance schemes
He added: Were working with them [the compliance schemes] with a view to having a sensible remedy to their requirements. Were asking them they that batteries that are sent to us are maybe narrowed down in terms of volume until the end of the rebuild or until we can licence a different site which is a possibility we have.
Mr Stead praised the response of the schemes to the situation, and claimed that any reduction in volumes being sorting by Loddon would not impact on their attempts to reach their batteries collection targets for 2011.
What we have seen from a lot of compliance schemes is they have worked pretty hard this year and a lot of them are close to or have completed their requirements for this year and those who do have a shortfall dont have one by a huge amount. With our facilities we can offer them at the moment should see them through until 2012, he said.
A spokeswoman for one of the compliance schemes that works with Loddon, ERP, confirmed that it had been briefed by Loddon on the situation and had not expressed any difficulties as a result of it. Were still collecting, she added.
New site
Mr Stead said that, while Loddon could look to a new location for the warehouse, it could be quicker to simply rebuild the site. We would like to be able to continue with our existing site, there is a question of being licensed to carry on. For a new site there is a procedure to go through to get it licensed which can take time.
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Commenting on the potential cause of the blaze, Mr Stead said the fire brigade were satisfied it was not arson, but there was no definite answer yet as to what had started it.
He said: It could have some something like a lit cigarette because we have had containers which are plastic and a lot of batteries are kept in plastic.
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