Live ammunition found among batteries at Aberdeenshire recycling centre
Council bosses say staff were lucky to spot the shotgun cartridges, and avoid a potentially dangerous situation
Aberdeenshire Council is warning lives could have been put risk after live shotgun cartridges were found among household batteries at Portlethen recycling centre.
Staff at the site discovered the cartridges inside a battery box on Wednesday 23 July, and they were removed and dealt with safely.
Now council bosses are warning that the situation could have had serious consequences if the team had not been fortunate enough to notice the ammunition during routine checks.
Live ammunition should be surrendered to police station or registered dealer
Shotgun cartridges that are still live should only be disposed of by surrendering them to a local police station or to a registered firearms dealer.
Ewan Wallace, Environment & Sustainability Head of Service at Aberdeenshire Council, said: “It was lucky that the site team spotted these so that they could be removed and dealt with safely. This was a potentially dangerous situation.
“Batteries are a known fire risk in our recycling streams and to find live ammunition among them presents a real risk to staff, site visitors, and to those we’ve contracted to transport and recycle the batteries.
"Never take ammunition to a household recycling centre"
“We are urging residents to, please, never take live ammunition to a household recycling centre and never place them in household bins. If unsure of where and how to recycle something, site staff are happy to help”
The ammunition was subsequently handed into Stonehaven Police Station for destruction.
Small, domestic quantities (50 at most) of spent shotgun cartridges can be disposed of through normal household waste.
For commercial quantities of spent cartridges, it is illegal to dispose of them through burial or burning, therefore, and a registered waste carrier should be contacted to take them away.
Anyone using a waste carrier is asked to always ask for a copy of the Waste Transfer Note as proof that the waste was disposed of correctly.