Before concluding on Friday (July 10), the inquest at HM Coroner’s Court in Lincoln heard how 55-year-old Karlis Pavasars, a husband and father of two, had to be identified by DNA from his toothbrush after he was killed in an industrial shredder at the firm’s Barkston Heath facility.
Mr Pavasars, who lived in Peterborough, was working in shed 1 at the premises of MID UK Recycling’s site near Ancaster, eight miles north east of Grantham, when the incident happened on July 19 2013.
That day, according to the record of inquest, Mr Pavasars was ‘initially observed lying on a moving conveyor belt apparently motionless’ before he ‘passed into a trommel and was eventually conveyed into an operational industrial shredding machine’.
Fragments of Mr Pavasars’ body were later recovered, the document states, although coroner Stuart P G Fisher has recorded the medical cause of his death as ‘unascertained’.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident is still ongoing.
Situated on Ermine Street, the Barkston Heath site includes a warehousing complex and a materials recycling facility (MRF) that was originally commissioned to convert residual waste into RDF.
A spokesperson for the company said: “MID UK Recycling Limited has enormous sympathy for the family of Karlis Pavasars and we would like to offer them our deepest condolences for their loss through this tragic incident almost two years ago.
“We are grateful to the coroner for carrying out a thorough investigation into Mr Pavasars’ death which the jury concluded was as a result of an accident. We will continue to offer our support and assistance to the Health and Safety Executive with its ongoing investigation.”
Based in Sleaford, Mid UK Recycling processes waste and recyclables on behalf of businesses and local authorities in Lincolnshire and the surrounding area. The firm also produces refuse-derived fuel and operates a 3MW biomass waste wood plant.
The Barkston Heath facility was just last week hit by a fire involving 400 bales of mixed waste, which saw a total of 12 fire engines called to the scene and local residents advised to keep their windows closed from the black smoke (see letsrecycle.com story).
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