Batteries may have caused blaze

MOBILE phone batteries are believed to have sparked a major blaze at a Perth industrial estate.

Fire crews were scrambled to the Viridor recycling plant in the early hours of Tuesday.

Huge piles of recycling material were well ablaze when appliances arrived on the scene.

At the height of the operation seven crews – about 35 firefighters – were battling the blaze.

The fire was brought under control just after 6am.

Viridor’s Perth base is described as one of the most sophisticated waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) plants in the UK.

It is the only fridge plant in Scotland and is used by councils from across the country.

A spokeswoman for Viridor said: “No staff were injured and there is no risk to public health.

“The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has been notified and has visited the site.”

She said: “The fire began and was contained within the yard of the WEEE facility and, while the cause of this incident has not been identified, waste site operators know that it is most likely attributed to lithium ion batteries. These batteries are the main cause of waste site fires.

“They are commonly found in a variety of products, including mobile phones, toys, cameras, e-cigarettes and laptops. Viridor asks people to responsibly dispose of these batteries at household waste recycling centres.”

The company said the site was operating as normal.

Police Scotland confirmed the fire was not suspicious.