Workers were allowed back into the Waste Management facility at 13707 S. Jeffrey Blvd. about two hours after the building was evacuated during a grenade scare.
Earlier Thursday morning, an employee of the facility said he found an object resembling a grenade in a garbage bin where trash and recyclables are separated.
The Bomb and Arson Unit investigated the object that looked like a grenade and determined it was a “practice grenade” that apparently was harmless, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Police were called around 6:14 a.m., and workers were sent to a shelter about a block and a half away.
Employees were allowed back to work just before 8 a.m.