Fire crews from across Essex were called to a site at Tilbury Docks on Sunday (2 December) to tackle a blaze at a paper recycling plant owned by waste management company, Nordic Recycling.
Crews from Essex Country Fire & Rescue Service were called to the site at 3:40pm on Sunday, reported that a single storey building containing compressed paper bails, measuring 30 x 60 metres, was ’40 per cent alight’ and ‘100 per cent smoke logged’.
Incident Commander-Divisional Officer, Jon Payne, reported: “The fire is deep seated within the building. Crews are using two main jets and a ground monitor to extinguish the fire.”
Crews attending the scene managed to extinguish the blaze by 1:50 am on Monday morning, after more than ten hours, with three appliances remaining on site until Monday afternoon in order to damp the site down.
A spokesman for port operator, Forth Ports said: “No one was injured. There is no disruption to the port and all services are operating as normal now. At this stage, the full extent of the damage and the cause of the fire are unknown.”
Nordic Recycling has not yet commented on the fire.
Fires at recycling sites are quite common and can be long lasting due to the large volume and combustible nature of the materials being processed.
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How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.