Local · 25th January 2009
Editor, with permission
Comox Valley Echo; with files from Canwest News Service
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Cumberland firefighters working at one side of IPI warehouse and office that was destroyed by fire Saturday morning. The roof of the building had already collapsed at this point.
Cumberland and Courtenay fire departments spent over two hours Saturday morning battling a stubborn fire at a recycling depot on Ulverston Avenue at Royston Road.
The fire was called in around 10:30 a.m. When Cumberland fire crews arrived a warehouse at the site was fully engulfed in flames.
The facility is owned by IPI, which collects garbage and recyclables, including paper, from throughout the Comox Valley.
The Courtenay fire department's aerial truck was called in under the Valley's mutual fire aid agreement to help the village crews contain the blaze, fueled in part by big bales of paper.
There is no word yet on the suspected cause of the fire.
© Comox Valley Echo 2009
Toxic Mess in Our Village
Comment by carol on 25th January 2009
The fire dept. (thanks to all of you) is still working on this (Sunday evening). It is a disgusting pile of smoldering plastic, paper and who knows what. It is a shame that this happened esp. at a time when there is a very slow market for recyclables. Why isn't this type of facility out near the dump instead of near so many homes?
A Recycling Reality Check:
Quotes taken from an article by Grant Warkentin - Campbell River Mirror on Jan. 6/09
"There’s no market for recyclable paper, cardboard, plastic and tin cans, but International Paper Industries refuses to dump them in landfills."
"However, because of poor economic conditions, no one wants to buy recyclable material and the company has been watching demand decline for months. "
“There really is no market for it right now so we’re having to stockpile some of it,” (Ed) Walsh said. “The price for our commodities has dropped by 50 per cent for newspaper and 80 per cent for plastic.”
"Walsh said no one is taking recyclable metal such as cans right now."