Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Firefighters finally leave Altens recycling centre after nearly 120 hours battling blaze

Firefighters were at Altens recycling centre for five days. Image: Kenny Elrick / DC Thomson
Firefighters were at Altens recycling centre for five days. Image: Kenny Elrick / DC Thomson

Efforts to salvage an Aberdeen recycling centre have been stood down for the first time in nearly a week.

Crews have been stationed at Suez Recycling and Recovery UK Centre in Altens since Friday last week following a major blaze.

Teams have now left the site – 118 hours after they were first called to the fire.

The large-scale blaze ripped through the multi-million-pound facility causing widespread damage.

Drone footage of the area showcased the sheer scale of the destruction, with piles of debris building up outside the premises.

Fire officers have been monitoring the plant with multiple crews called to the site each day to deal with hotspots.

Firefighters worked round-the-clock to tackle the blaze which took hold of the Altens-based plant around 4.30pm last Friday.

On Wednesday, firefighters left the scene for the first time in nearly a week after a final inspection was carried out at about 3pm.

Their departure came as Suez bosses told the BBC that waste products will now be transported 300 miles from Aberdeen to Hartlepool.

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

Officials say the English plant is the nearest “appropriate facility.”

Waste collections across the community were suspended in the wake of the fire, with Saturday collections scheduled to help them deal with the backlog.

Large scale response to Altens fire

Firefighters worked round-the-clock to tackle the blaze which took hold around 4.30pm last Friday.

Despite the best efforts of teams on the ground, the fire reignited around midnight – sparking a major response.

More than 100 firefighters descended on Altens recycling plant at the height of the blaze.

Due to the scale of the damage to the plant, Suez bosses told the BBC that waste products will now be transported 300 miles from Aberdeen to Hartlepool.

Crews from as far as Montrose, Peterhead, and Dundee were drafted in to join the effort.

Local residents lost their water supply as firefighters battled to regain control of the fire.

On Sunday, area commander Matt Mason warned that crews were likely to remain at the Altens-based centre for quite some time.

Amidst their efforts, Suez made efforts to redeploy staff across the area or placed on paid leave.

Conversation