The Office of the Fire Commissioner has determined where the fire started last Thursday at Eastman Recycling Services in Steinbach.
Jeannette Delong is Executive Director for enVision Community Living. She explains recyclable material is sorted using a conveyor belt. The first station on that belt is where staff and helpers remove non-recyclable material that is either dropped off at the facility or tossed into blue bins. Those items are thrown into a large hopper and it was in this hopper where the fire started.
"We don't know what caused the fire to start in that hopper but that's where the fire started," she explains.
Delong says they do not yet have a damage estimate in terms of the dollar value.
Once the fire started burning inside the hopper it made its way up the chute, causing extensive damage to the roof of the building. Delong says there are now structural issues to address as well as electrical work to be redone, seeing as this ran across the ceiling.
"Those are probably two of the significant places where there is damage," says Delong.
She notes all indications suggest at least half of the roof will need to be replaced. Delong says they will be out of commission for at least three months.
Delong says thankfully there were no injuries. The majority of staff were on coffee break at the time and one of the employees noticed the fire, forcing a quick and efficient evacuation.
She adds there were no bales of recyclables lost in the fire. However, Delong says some bales might be damaged from smoke and the toxicity of the residue.
According to Delong, the fire meant they were unable to complete their Steinbach pickup on Thursday. She notes their trucks were out of town at the time of the fire, servicing another community. The trucks came back to Steinbach full and because there were no other arrangements made yet, they had to skip the Steinbach pickup. Delong says they were also not able to do pickups in Grunthal on Friday, but by Monday they were able to keep up with all their commitments.
Delong says because their trucks were not damaged, they can still do pickups. However, while their plant is out of commission, the material will be delivered to a recycling facility in Winnipeg. However, Delong says the Winnipeg facility will then have the advantage of selling those materials and keeping the profits.
"That is one aspect that we would lose out on," she says. "We expect that it will be covered through insurance."
Delong says those who work on the truck still have employment. Some of the support staff as well as people with disabilities will be reassigned to other activities within the organization. However, six employees who were hired specifically for sorting have been laid off.
According to Delong, there is a chance that by the end of this week the office in the recycling facility will be up and running. She hopes to have the warehouse open before too long. But Delong stresses they will not be able to accept recyclables for dropoff at the facility. However, there is still the option of dropping off recyclables at the landfill.
Delong says this fire is a perfect example of why it is so important to make sure that what you are putting in your blue bin is in fact recyclable. Materials acceptable for recycling include newspapers/ flyers, magazines, boxboard (cereal boxes), pizza boxes, gable top cartons (milk cartons), aseptic containers (juice boxes), steel cans, aluminum cans, plastic, glass containers/ jars and cardboard. Non-recyclable items include Styrofoam and oil containers.
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Fri, Apr 19, 8:30 AM
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