POLICE units and a bomb disposal team were called to the Bowithick Household Waste Recycling Centre on Saturday morning, after an unexploded World War Two mortar bomb was discovered among the rubbish.
During the morning, a member of the public took a bag of scrap metal to the centre and was helped to unload the bad by a site operative.
As the member of staff was emptying the bag into the scrap metal skip a mortar was identified.
Staff called the police, evacuated the site and advised visitors to dispose of their waste at a different recycling centre.
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Members of the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Unit were in Saltash when they received the call to the incident.
On the way to the site, the closure of Sanding Road meant they had to drive the long way round, which added around 20 minutes to their journey time.
'Post' photographer and Tintagel resident, David Flower, was also quickly at the scene when he heard the news of the bomb. He tried to get a photo of the bomb, but was told that it would be too dangerous.
The bomb disposal team — Dan Mallafre and Jim Diamond — confirmed the device was a World War Two 1941 60mm mortar shell.
They removed the bomb from the shed it was being housed in and took it to the far corner of the site — the area where the tip used to be located.
An electronic explosive cable was attached to the device, but it failed to detonate, so the bomb disposal team decided they would have to use the 'old fashioned' method — which involves using a fuse to prime the device and explode it manually. Once this was carried out, they had exactly one minute and twenty seconds to run to safety.
They primed the device, then quickly joined the other members of staff behind the shed and waited for the explosion.
David said: "It was one heck of a big bang, I've never heard anything like it and debris flew for quite a distance. It was one of the most dangerous jobs that I have been on."
After the bomb disposal team checked that everything was safe, they left the site and the centre was re-opened to the public by 3pm.
Phil Rudin, Operations Manager for SITA Cornwall, said: "We would like to thank visitors using the recycling centre on Saturday morning for their co-operation and ask that people do not bring such objects to household waste recycling centres as they pose a risk to visitors using the facility and our staff.
"If members of the public do find objects they think may be mortars or similar items, they should contact the police immediately to ensure they can be disposed of in a safe manner."