Major recycling centre fire sees Aberdeen waste sent to Hartlepool

Firefighters damp down the blaze at the Aberdeen recycling facility on Tuesday afternoon in the wake of the fire

Waste is having to be taken almost 300 miles from Aberdeen to Hartlepool due to a major fire at a recycling plant.

More than 100 firefighters were involved in tackling the blaze at the Suez plant in Aberdeen's Altens area over the weekend.

Suez Recycling and Recovery has now told BBC Scotland that recycling is being taken to the nearest appropriate facility, about 280 miles (450km) away.

It will be collected, collated, and transported to County Durham by lorry.

Suez regional director John Wilkinson said: "It's important that people continue to recycle as normal - after initially being tipped at a local transfer station, the city's mixed recycling is temporarily being taken to another sorting facility that is designed to accept the same mix of materials collected for recycling in Aberdeen, located near Hartlepool.

"Household rubbish is being tipped at another local transfer station and loaded on to larger trucks for disposal at Stoneyhill landfill to the north of Aberdeen."

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The fire meant that waste collections had to be suspended on Monday, with Saturday collections planned to catch up.

Mr Wilkinson added: "I would like to apologise to households who have experienced disruption and thank them for their patience."

SFRS area commander Matt Mason said it was a large-scale fire

The fire broke out on Friday.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) area commander Matt Mason said crews had been sifting through up to 700 tonnes of mixed waste after the "large-scale" fire at the facility, dampening it down.

"It was really challenging incident," he told BBC Scotland. "It's been a really complex incident.

"We're hoping to withdraw shortly, but we're working with the Suez team and local authority to be able to ensure that we've extinguished the main seats of the fire before we leave.

"We believe the fire took hold within the waste recycling plant itself but the investigations team will work to establish the exact location of the fire."

Volunteers provided food and drinks for firefighters over the weekend.