"Shocked and Disgusted" After Recycling Depot Fire

The Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne's recycling program has hit a stumbling block, thanks to a suspicious fire over the weekend. Reeve Craig Spencer alleges someone entered the transfer site south of Treherne early Sunday morning, and set fire to the recycling shed. He says the shed was completely destroyed, along with two other buildings near the structure.

"It's an extremely unfortunate act someone decided to do Sunday morning. We understand the police have been involved, and there's an investigation going on. From our perspective, we have insurance, however there's a deductible involved in that. The ratepayers are going to have to be patient, and in the long run pay a little bit more because of someone's foolish actions."

Spencer says the community's shocked by the incident, and hopes the police are able to identify the person, or people, responsible for the blaze.

"Anybody who I've mentioned this to... It's two words, shocked and/or disgusted. It was somebody's thoughtless act. I hope the police have good fortune in locating these individuals and they're able to get some justice in terms of being responsible for your own actions."

Despite the fire, Spencer says they haven't seen any interruptions to their recycling service. He says Portage and District Recycling responded quickly, and have set a trailer up at the site to serve as a makeshift recycling depot for the time being.

Aside from the service itself, Spencer says his biggest concern is just what kind of damage the fire may have done on a larger scale.

"What really, really scares me is I don't know how many, or what kind, of recyclables we had in the building when it was lit, and what did we put into the environment?"