The demolition of the burnt down recycling centre at Altens in Aberdeen has begun.
It marks the start of a rebuilding process that is due to take an incredible 13 months.
The centre was the site where all of Aberdeen City Council’s recycling was sorted, until a massive fire earlier this year.
Investigations into the blaze at the Altens recycling centre found it was accidental.
Bosses have said although it’s “impossible to prove conclusively”, they believe a lithium device was accidentally recycled and was responsible for the fire that engulfed the complex in July.
How important was the Altens site?
The recycling centre divided the city’s waste into 14 different groupings, including aluminium, waster paper and cardboard.
After being sorted, the materials would be compressed into blocks and sold to companies that would reuse them.
Around 50% of the goods would be recycled but the other 50% would be bundled and sold on the European market where it was burned to make electricity.
Eventually, the waste was planned to be burnt at Aberdeen’s own incinerator, due to open this winter.
Only around 1% of the waste taken to the Altens ended up in a landfill.
Built in 2017, the £27 million building was “state of the art” and designed to reduce divert 71,000 tonnes of Aberdeen’s waste from landfill every year.
Waste is still being sent nearly 300 miles to Hartlepool in County Durham, where it will be sorted until the Altens site is rebuilt.
Demolition to be carried out ‘carefully’
But before the site can be rebuilt, it must be demolished “carefully”.
This is because the main waste sorting building – which was destroyed – is connected to other buildings which may be saved.
Contractors are now taking the building apart piece by piece so it does not damage the neighbouring buildings.
The demolition is expected to be completed by March.
New regulations for rebuild
The rebuilding phase is planned to take around nine months after the site has been demolished.
A completion date will depend on how much of the original site can be saved.
The designs for the rebuild will be on the same site, but this time new cladding will have to be used due to updated regulations following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Changes will also have to be made to the building’s energy efficiency to keep in line with new regulations.
Due to the costly rebuild, site managers are now continuing to try and educate the public on the dangers of lithium batteries in mainstream recycling.
In December, site operator Suez Recycling and Recovery UK released a video showing how the fire was started.
Colin Forshaw, production operation manager at the site, said: “I am prepared to accept that it is people’s ignorance right now.
“That is why we have to educate people on how to dispose of these things safely.
“In the UK waste management sector, it is the number one growing concern. There are more of these batteries getting made every year.
“Even small ones, like in vapes and toothbrushes, can cause a domino effect which can lead to incidents like this.”