The bang was heard at about 3.30pm. No one was injured but the company reinforced its message about the danger and the hazards of explosives, even as small as batteries, being included in waste and recycling.
‘Guernsey Recycling Scrap Metal had an incident yesterday afternoon with what we believe was a small gas bottle exploding inside our machinery, which had come into our yard concealed in waste scrap metal for recycling,’ said a spokesperson for the company.
‘Our trained staff dealt with the issue quickly, and we are back working as usual this morning.’
Following the incident people are asked to check their waste for any dangerous items such as gas bottles, flares, and batteries which can cause fires or explosions.
‘The health and safety of our staff, customers and visitors is always our first priority. We ask all customers to please be extra vigilant checking their waste material.’
A full list of what Guernsey Recycling Scrap Metal and Island Waste can and cannot accept is available on their respective websites guernseyscrapmetal.gg and islandwaste.gg.
‘If anyone has any queries about what we can recycle and what we cannot accept, they can contact us using the numbers on our websites and we will be happy to help,’ the company added.
It has persistently warned about the dangers of careless disposal of batteries due to the risk of them causing fire and has now threatened to impose fines on carelessly dumped batteries.
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