Repair work at Portage District and Recycling will begin soon after a September fire, but it'll be months until full operational capacity's restored.

PDRI Executive Director James Bolton says the blaze caused between $500,000 to $750,000 worth of damage. Bolton says conveyor belts, rafters, and electrical components in the sorting area of the building were damaged, forcing the line to be closed.

"In the meantime, we're still operational with our main piece of equipment, but how we do our processing has changed. And we were forced to lay off eight people due to the fire."

Bolton says the Office of the Fire Commissioner told him the fire likely started from something being left in a piece of cardboard that was dropped off at PDRI's 24-hour depot.

"To me that's pretty concerning because our depot is open 24/7. We just want to remind the residents to ensure that when they're dropping off here to ensure that there is no flammable material that is being dropped off."

Bolton notes it'll likely be about six months until the sorting line re-opens and regular operations resume. He adds staff at the plant have done well to adjust to the demands of adjusted operations to ensure there has been no consumer letdown.

"We're pretty proud of the fact that there has been no service interuptions to any of our customers, even the day of the fire."