Artist's impression of FCC Environment's Wrexham MBT

A fire has broken out at FCC Environment’s new mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant, which is currently being built at Bryn Lane in Wrexham.

Three crews from the Wrexham arm of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, and crews from Buckley, Deeside and Johnstown were sent to Wrexham Recycling Park after receiving reports of a fire at 11.56 yesterday morning (15 April).

The fire had reportedly affected the conveyor belt area in the building, which is currently under construction.

Firefighters used breathing apparatus, hose reels and main jets to tackle the fire and prevent it from spreading, and vented the property to disperse the smoke. By yesterday evening, the flames had been fully extinguished.

An investigation is now underway to find the cause of the fire.

Speaking of the fire, Paul Stokes, Head of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality at FCC Environment, said: “Fire crews have now fully extinguished the fire, and there are no reported injuries.

“The Environment Agency has been informed, and there are not thought to be any environmental issues. There was no waste within the facility at the time.

“FCC Environment takes health and safety very seriously; we will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire and will implement any necessary measures to ensure a similar situation does not occur in the future.”

MBT details

Recycling and renewable energy company FCC Environment announced the formal agreement of a ‘significant contract variation’ with Wrexham Council last year, which included the construction of a 70,000 tonne per annum MBT plant.

Expected to come on stream in summer, the facility will recover recyclate for the production of a refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which will be supplied to Scottish and Southern Energy’s Ferrybridge power station in West Yorkshire from 2015.

It is hoped that the plant will enable the council to meet the Welsh Government’s ‘stringent statutory recycling targets’.

Opened in 2009 and funded through a £40-million Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme (the ‘first of its type’ funded with PFI funds in Wales), Wrexham Recycling Park currently processes around 32,000 tonnes of recyclable materials per year througha materials recovery facility (MRF), a waste transfer station, and an in-vessel composting (IVC) facility.

Currently, the IVC produces over 1,000 tonnes of compost per year from recycled kitchen waste, green waste and cardboard, which is made available for the public and for use in local parks and gardens.

Tackling waste fires

Waste site fires are commonplace, with figures released last year showing that between 2001 and 2012, the average rate of fires at waste and recycling works came in at just under one per day.

The Environment Agency has released guidance aimed at reducing the outbreak of fire at waste storage sites. Prepared in partnership with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), the new Technical Guidance Note (TGN), ‘Reducing Fire Risk at Sites Storing Combustible Materials’, identifies a range of measures that operators of waste storage sites should implement to minimise the risk of fire.

Read more about the proposals for FCC’s MBT plant in Wrexham.