Firefighter putting out the fire in the container truck at Hudson Baylor Recycling Thursday.
Photo Credit: Beacon Professional Firefighters Facebook Page, possibly Robert Reynolds.

Late rainy morning Thursday, a fire started inside of a container truck holding rejected recycling materials at Hudson Baylor Recycling at 508 Fishkill Avenue (Rte. 52), which is past the car wash, Groveville apartment community and Beacon Lofts.

According to a person familiar with the situation, a person saw the fire and called to alert the fire department. According to the Beacon Professional Firefighters who posted on their Facebook page: “Beacon Fire units are operating at a tractor trailer full of trash on fire at Hudson Baylor Recycling. Castle Point Professional Firefighters requested to the scene with an engine. A 10-35 has been transmitted calling back all off duty personnel. Fishkill Fire Department requested to standby in the City with an engine.”

The sign for Hudson Baylor Recycling on FIshkill Ave. / Rte 52
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth

The person familiar with the situation said that it is not common for a truck full of trash to catch fire, and that a cause has not been released yet. However, the cause could have come from inside of the truck, such as discarded batteries that combusted, or some other reason. The person familiar with today’s fire said that the incident was minor and uncommon for them.

Is A Truck Full Of Trash Normal At The Recycling Center?

The rejected recycling material is a normal process of the recycling center, which does sort through items placed into the recycling cans of homes and businesses that are picked up by Royal Carting (now owned by Casela) and taken to this recycling center.

If something is not “clean” enough to be put through the recycling center, such as soggy cardboard, or plastic containers covered in peanut butter, it is removed from the recycling collection and discarded into the regular trash. That trash is put into a container truck, like this one that caught on fire, and driven up to the burn plant.

Items that don’t qualify as recycling, which can be referred to as “dirty” can “contaminate” an entire collection of recycling. During a recycling presentation to City Council on August 27, 2018, Steve Hastings of Republic Services explained the economics of recycling during a crash in that market, and stressed, “When in doubt, throw it out.”

Read ALBB’s Deep Dive on local recycling in this article, “The Recycling Market That Crashed - How The Crash Impacted Beacon”

The economics of recycling is fascinating.