Bullet goes off with loud bang at Yorkshire recycling plant after resident put live ammunition in the bin

The bullet was set off by machinery sorting through waste sent from the Carnaby household waste recycling site making a loud bang.

A second live bullet was found by workers - none of whom were hurt - as they carefully sifted through the remaining waste.

The bullets were traced back to a resident who had put the bullets into a container for small domestic appliances at the Carnaby site.

East Riding Council is urging residents to dispose of ammunition at their local police station.

Paul Tripp, head of streetscene services at the council, said: “This was a potentially dangerous situation and someone at the recycling site could have been seriously hurt.

“The person who had these bullets maybe hadn’t realised they were live and thought they were doing the right thing by recycling them.

“But these are dangerous items and they need to be disposed of safely and carefully by taking them to a police station.

“So we are urging residents to please, never take live ammunition to a recycling site or put it in their wheelie bins at home.”

The incident last Wednesday came days before a crew had to put out a fire in a bin lorry in Bridlington caused by a battery.

It is the second time a battery put in a wheelie bin has caused a lorry fire in Bridlington in two years.

Batteries have also been blamed for causing other fires at recycling sites in the area after they were struck by sorting machinery.

The council says the best way for people to recycle them is to take them to household waste recycling sites, or to local shops and supermarkets, where they’ll find special battery recycling containers.