Although the 18-inch device ultimately turned out to be harmless, the Priorswood centre in Taunton was fully evacuated and closed to the public for nearly three hours.
Wyvern Waste, the company that runs the site, said the bomb had been brought to the site in a black plastic bin liner that afternoon.
 Wyvern staff spotted the shell in a black bin liner delivered to the Priorswood recycling centre |
The police were called while staff cleared the area and took the device to an open piece of land, where it was covered with old mattresses. Army bomb disposal experts examined the bomb and determined that it was an empty shell.
Wyvern's Chris Jonas appealed to members of the public to alert site operators when bringing such items to a site for recycling.
Mr Jonas said: “In the end, this turned out to be a harmless piece of metal, which could be recycled just like any other metal. But because whoever brought it to Priorswood didn't tell us what they were doing it caused a great deal of inconvenience.
“We would appeal to anyone bringing unusual items to any of our sites to just let us know what they are doing, so that we can advise them on the best methods of disposal,” he added.
Mr Jonas said the Priorswood site had established emergency procedures for dealing with such circumstances, and praised staff for the professional way in which they dealt with the situation.
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