Local Council Issues Safety Warning After Grenades Found In Recycling Skip

Explosive devices were found at a recycling centre in Devon (Picture: Devon County Council).

The Devon County Council released a warning to its residents last week: Don't take grenades to a recycling centre.

It follows the evacuation and temporary closure of the Exmouth’s Knowle Hill Recycling Centre on Thursday after grenades were found in one of the metal skips at the facility.

"Explosives, ammunition, flares and fireworks must not be taken to Devons Household Waste Recycling Centres," said Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Waste.

Upon discovering the suspicious devices, the police and the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team was called.

The suspicious objects were discovered to be one live and two spent smoke grenades. All three objects were safely removed from the site.

"All the closures wasted the valuable time and resources of the police and bomb disposal teams, as well as recycling centre staff and led to the inconvenience of other site users," read the warning issued by the Devon County Council.

"Each time the closure was avoidable – if the owner of the item had given some thought to how the item could be perceived." 

This is not the first time potentially dangerous objects have been discarded in an unsafe way across Devon.

In 2016, the same Knowle Hill recycling centre had to close after being handed potentially dangerous devices by members of the public.