Bomb Disposal Unit is called to Totnes recycling centre

Totnes Recycling Centre was closed for 1.5 hours this morning while bomb disposal experts removed a rocket propelled mortar, which had been placed in a skip and narrowly missed being crushed by a JCB.

Devon County Council, which owns the site, confirms that the site was closed at 8:50am and evacuated while Police, then bomb squad officers were called. Investigators removed the mortar in a bomb-proof container for further investigation. It’s not known whether the mortar had already been deactivated before being disposed of in the skip, or whether it had potential to explode.

Councillor Roger Croad, the Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for the Council’s recycling centres said:

“We like to think that we can recycle most things to avoid them going into landfill, but rocket propelled mortars are definitely not on our list of recyclables.

“Seriously though, it’s rather irresponsible to leave ammunition or explosives at your local recycling centre, and possibly endangering staff and the public. 

“Explosives and items like this require specialist disposal, and we ask anyone with such items to contact the Police or the Coastguard for further advice.”

The recycling centre is now open and working again as normal. However, this dramatic news comes hot on the heels of figures recently released that reveal a 10 per cent rise in the cases of fly tipping across Devon, with figures doubling between 2010 and 2011 in Exeter.

This has prompted the call for a return to weekly general waste collections by some, however Simon Hill, the city's cleansing manager, argues that this would come at a prohibitive cost of £1 million: "Fortnightly rubbish collections are a lot cheaper. It generally works well and we are better off putting resources into tackling fly tipping hot spots as and when they occur."