By CASEY NEILL
A FACTORY fire in Dandenong South sent plumes of black smoke over surrounding suburbs on Friday.
Fire crews were called to Polytrade Recycling in Thomas Murrell Drive about 8.15am on 17 January.
Police blocked traffic to the area by closing Ordish Road and the CFA advised residents in Dandenong, Dandenong South and Keysborough that there was no threat to the community.
The authority declared the fire safe about 11am but conducted site patrols every 30 minutes for several hours after to make sure.
A CFA spokeswoman said the fire was confined to a conveyor belt and another piece of equipment in one section of the factory.
“It didn’t actually burn the whole factory down,” she said.
She said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined and investigations were ongoing.
Polytrade Recycling was established in 1995 to export recyclable plastic grades to the growing South East Asian market.
Since then, Polytrade Recycling has expanded its operations from being a recyclable plastic processor to becoming a key player in the domestic kerbside and commercial recycling sectors across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
It receives, sorts and processes more than 400,000 tonnes of recyclables each year.
The Journal was unable to contact Polytrade before going to print.
