A fire just after noon today heavily damaged the city garbage recycling plant in Ames. The plant grinds the garbage up and it’s then combined with coal and burned at the city’s power plant. Ames public works director Paul Wiegand says the fire started in the garbage shredder. He says plant employees discovered the fire, but couldn’t put it out.Weigand says the plant will be shut down for at least a week and damage is estimated at 50-thousand dollars.Weigand says the fire was tough to put out due to its location and the amount of ground up garbage that was on fire.