Fire at Warren Sinclair’s plastic-burning plant in Whangārei burned out of control

Whangārei coated in toxic emissions from burning plastic pyrolysis plant

A controversial plastic-burning plant approved by the Environment Court has had five emergency call-outs in the past year, including a blaze firefighters say burned out of control.

The latest incident at Warren Sinclair’s Whangārei-based plastic-to-fuel operation happened last week and triggered complaints from residents who said the fumes were so thick they could smell them from 12km away.

“We had to stop driving because we couldn’t see. That smoke was toxic as hell,” one local wrote on a Facebook page, while another said they could “taste it on my tongue” from several kilometres away.

See the full story in the Northern Advocate