Fire-damaged plastic recycling plant to open again

A large plastic bottle recycling plant in Lincolnshire which suffered damage from a fire last August is now due to reopen, just over a year later.

It took around 70 firefighters to tackle the blaze when it was at its height, at the AWS Eco Plastics site in Hemswell Cliff, close to Gainsborough, back in the August of 2009.

The flames were so fierce that smoke could be seen for miles, which is why it took fire crews two days to finally extinguish the fire.

The fire was found to have been started by a faulty fan unit.

The rebuilding job has taken time but the facility is now the largest of its type in Europe, according to Jonathan Short, speaking on behalf of the company.

Mr Short is also keen to move forward rather than look back at the devastation caused to the plant by the blaze, which cost the business millions of pounds.

Nearly 100 people are employed at the recycling plant which sorts plastics, turning it into the beads from which bottles are made.

The plant is now set to open again over the next few weeks with many of the original staff to be re-employed in their old jobs.