The discovery of live ammunition on the sorting-line conveyor belt at the Te Awamutu recycling plant on Friday has prompted further calls for people to get their recycling sorted.
The rusty 12-gauge shotgun cartridge was mixed in with recycling and is the latest in a long list of hazardous materials staff have been discovering.
Group manager service delivery Dawn Inglis said the shotgun cartridge could have had a devastating impact on staff and equipment at the recycling plant.
“For the cartridge to have made it through the truck compactors and the plant loader unscathed was sheer luck, it could have gone off at any stage.”