Live ammunition found among batteries at Portlethen household recycling centre

Live shotgun cartridges were found among household batteries at Portlethen recycling centre, creating a serious risk to site staff, customers, and recycling contractors. 

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. 

Household recycling centre staff routinely check containers for contamination and to determine when they are full for collection; they were fortunate to find the shotgun cartridges inside a battery box among the household battery recycling on Wednesday 23 July. 

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.  

“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, please arrange for a registered waste carrier to take them away. When using a waste carrier, always ask for a copy of the Waste Transfer Note as proof that your waste was disposed of correctly—it will show where your waste has been taken to for disposal. 

If your waste is illegally dumped or fly-tipped, you could be subject to a £500 fixed penalty notice. To ensuring you are in the right hands, only use waste removal companies or individuals that are properly registered with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). You can check this here: https://www2.sepa.org.uk/wastecarriers/  

To find out how to correctly and safely recycle or dispose of different types of everyday items, visit Aberdeenshire Council’s waste A-to-Z guide at aberdeenshire.gov.uk/wasteAZ