banner small

TJ Waste & Recycling praises fire service after blaze

TJ Waste & Recycling praises fire service after blaze
WASTE NOT: From left, Erjon Kuqi, a VIVID void foreman, Luke Haskell of TJ Waste & Recycling, and VIVID’s Jerry Duckworth, head of repairs, Simon Dean, senior business resource manager, and Mike Clark, an electrical supervisor at VIVID. Waste management specialist TJ, headquartered near Portsmouth, has been awarded a three-year £1.5m contract to collect and recycle site trade waste of VIVID, which is Hampshire’s largest provider of affordable homes with 30,000 homes under management and 70,000 customers.

TJ Waste & Recycling has praised the work of the fire services for the way it tackled a fire at the company’s materials recovery facility in Southampton on 11 July.

TJ Recycling
The blaze was detected by an automated system (picture: Ambulance service, hazardous team)

At approximately 3am on Tuesday 11th July, the company was notitifed of a fire at the MRF by its detection system. No members of staff were present at the time.

Emergency services were called and six fire appliances plus several support vehicles and the ambulance service attended the scene, alongside representatives from the Environment Agency. Local residents were advised to keep windows and doors closed.

TJ fire
The roof design is said to have helped reduce the impact of the fire (picture: Hampshire Fire & Rescue)

Segregation

John Gosling, managing director of TJ, said that “it was identified that the fire was isolated to a pile of material due to be removed after the recycling process, which was quickly controlled and put out – this is thanks to our working practice of material segregation.

“There was no damage to equipment and minimal damage to the building, but as it is designed to prevent the spread of fires with portals in the roof which lets the smoke out, it probably looked more dramatic than it actually was.”

Mr Gosling added: “The fire investigation team were unable to find the cause of the fire and the site was handed back under our control shortly after midday. I would like to praise the fire service for their work, they were absolutely exemplary. They don’t get enough credit, their professionalism and attitude was fantastic.”

The company said that “Following the relevant reviews of the building, it will be business as usual.

Housing contract

The company has recently announced that it has won a three-year competitive tender contract worth £1.5 million with Vivid, Hampshire’s largest provider of affordable homes has appointed TJ Waste & Recycling to collect and recycle trade waste .

Contract success: (l-r) Erjon Kuqi, a VIVID void foreman; Luke Haskell of TJ Waste & Recycling; and VIVID’s Jerry Duckworth, head of repairs; Simon Dean, senior business resource manager; and Mike Clark, an electrical supervisor at VIVID.

Vivid, recently formed from the merger of housing associations First Wessex and Sentinel, has set a target of 90% or more of waste recycled from its sites in any one year.

Mark Batchelor, Vivid’s commercial director, said: “With 30,000 homes under management, our maintenance programme unavoidably generates a large volume of refurbishment and new-build waste, such as plasterboard, brickwork, wood, wires, pipework, tiles, plastic, metal, carpets and ceramics.

“Following a competitive tender process, TJ was able to offer Vivid environmental peace of mind through a commitment to recycle 90% or more of our trade waste, underpinned by data-driven solutions.”

TJ has its headquarters in Fareham and contracts across southern England.

Register for free to comment

Subscribe to receive our newsletters and to leave comments.

The Blog Box

Back to top

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest waste and recycling news straight to your inbox.

Subscribe
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.