UKH

I have a fire extinguisher that I carry in the car which I have discovered is well past its "do not use after" date.  I am struggling to find out how to dispose of it responsibly.  The folks at the council's 'recycling centre' aka the tip don't want it.  I had heard that the fire service will take them, but they deny this.  It doesn't seem at all safe to simply chuck a pressurised container into a landfill bin - and certainly goes against the advice on the council's waste collections web pages.

I have heard it suggested that you can simply empty the extinguisher - i.e as if there was actually a fire to fight - and then dispose of it as metal waste. Never having used a fire extinguisher in anger, I have no idea how much of a mess would be created if I did that - or, indeed, whether the resulting pile/cloud/pool/whatever you end up with of extinguishant would be safe to dispose of using the normal means available to a householder.

Anyone got any suggestions, advice or ideas?

As a car one, presumably it’s dry powder?  I used one on an oven fire once, it made a hell of a mess.  The empty went in the metal recycling bin at the tip.  (I just put it there, didn’t ask anyone...)

If it came with the car, you might ask the manufacturer if they (one of their franchise garages) will take it.  I assume dealers have to dispose of out of date extinguishers when reselling used cars.

Fire extinguishers when unused or partly used are classed as hazardous waste and are a bit of a pain to dispose of, empty ones can just go in a normal metal recycling skip as Wintertree says.

Please never chuck them in the general waste when pressurised, not only is this illegal but they have been known to explode in compactor lorrys.

You can use the .gov website to find a hazardous waste disposal centre near you that should be able to take it if you have already tried your local household tip and the fire services won't help.

https://www.gov.uk/hazardous-waste-disposal

Alternatively, a local fire extinguisher service/supply company may be able to take it off you.

 

Office chair and long hallway??

As above, the dry powder ones make a hell of a mess to the extent that, in a former life, one used to wait until  you were sure it really was a fire that was going to take hold before you set the things off because of the impossible-to-clean-up mess they left behind them

Set it off (which is fun!) and then take it to the tip.  If it's a powder one of some sort, when setting it off do so into a bin bag.

We had some to get rid of in the Scout hut (they were ancient water ones) so we let a couple of Scouts set them off outside - they loved it!

Does it have a pressure gauge on it? If it does and its reading in the green I would leave it in the car. Buy a new one but keep the old one as backup.

Last time I used one it took 2 goes to put the fire out (oven fire, kitchen a real mess from the powder but powder cleans up, a burned out house doesn't. I used the entire extinguisher, having a second one kicking about might have been handy. 

Call by your local fire station. See if training centre want it for new recruits to play with

Shoot it. Bigger the calibre the better.  Used to shoot loads of aerosol cans with my airgun,  never disappointed.  12 bore would be great. 

Hmm, not sure you'll get through a fire extinguisher with anything you can easily let off in the UK. I suppose most halfway respectable rifle cartridges may do. (Have a search for Demolition Ranch on youtube).

On a more serious note if it is dry powder then just let it off, and you'll have a big mess and a safe bit of metal waste. Depending on the age it could be something a bit more interesting, there are some older fill mixes that predate the greenhouse gas regs that are basically an instant ozone layer hole in a can.

In my case, when I put in my postcode that redirected me to the Edinburgh Council web site which I have already confirmed contains no useful informaiton on this subject.

I shall look in to that.  I'm beginning to suspect that disposing of the thing is likely to end up costing more than buying it

I have pondered letting it off inside a large cardboard box but I have no idea whether that - or a bin bag - would survive the release of pressurised gas.  I don't really want to end up facing a dry powder clean up.  Plus, AIUI the powder is classified as hazardous waste on its own

Tried that, they don't want it (as I think I said in my OP).

If powder. Just pull the pin. Give it a very brief squirt. Only need a puff of powder to come out. It sits under the valve seat and the pressure normally goes down over a couple of days. 

The powder itself is inert. Bit makes all sorts of a mess. 

It is possible to remove the head once depressurised.

Body can be recycled. Rest I'm sorry to say goes landfill. 

Be careful with pressurised containers. I know someone who lost a finger taking a head off. They were lucky it wasn't worse. 

I normally discharge my old dry powder extinguishers down the slot of a pay and display machine. It makes the canister safe to dispose of and helps out the local community 

Thanks, sounds like it might be possible to depressurise it without making too much mess, with a bit of care.  Question is: do I feel lucky?

Burn it, it's what it would have wanted.

If it was me I’d just put it out.....

edit:  and I’ve just seen my new user name, well funny!

Have the council tip turned this down when you've taken it in? My understanding is that they should be obliged to take this if you are a householder and not a business. The company I work for collects these from council centres in the Midlands and we get several per week.

I realise you are joking but people have died setting fire to pressuried canisters (a fire extinguisher is usually some form of pressuried canister).

We used to put all sorts of things on a fire when we were kids, paint aerosols, where probably the best. When they went off you quite often got the "mushroom" cloud, mini Hiroshima, which got bonus points. Interestingly, lighter gas canisters, weren't as explosive as you  might have thought.

Anyhow, thanks for the heads up.

Fire extinguishers are specifically listed as items they will not accept at the local household waste recycling centres: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/recycling-3/household-waste-recycling-centres/...  (And the "Resource Efficient Scotland" site they provide a link to doesn't include fire extinguishers on the list of items that other companies can deal with.  Unless they fall under "Special Waste" or "Not Classified", which would probably mean checking with each of the 25-odd companies that come up in a search for those categories, and even then might not come up with a winner.  Which is frankly a ridiculous amount of effort to have to go to to dispose of an item which costs less than £20 brand new.)

I have, however, found out that they will take half-used tins of paint (yep, I have some of those to get rid of too) so long as the paint is mixed with sand or, bizarrely, cat litter.  At last, a ray of hope...

My Dad swears by Fire Extinguisher for dealing with Burglars. He used to have a Bayonet in the house until I said the blood might make a mess of his carpet, he then moved to a Chair leg, which he thought suitable for years, but only a couple of months ago he was delighted to inform me of his latest offensive weapon. Blast them in the face with the Fire Extinguisher, then when down batter them with the fire extinguisher. So there you go, its still useful.

Do you have to take the turds out first?

I can't help thinking that's quite a cynical way of getting round the ban on the disposal of liquids on landfill sites.

Unscrew the top bit with the lever on & guage.

Empty powder out.

Just about everything left is metal, including the Co2 cartridge..

The reason fort rejection in council recycling centres is they don't wan't something which has the potential to become highly pressurised by accident or for something to accidentally contaminate other waste.

This is a rather poor approach as it will encourage fly tipping. Some manufacturers would take them back for a free or nominal charge (but you'd have to get it to them) and some industrial disposers might take them from a domestic source free (we have done). Depending on the design, you could do it yourself. Have you got a picure of it?

Depends on the design. Many work on internal pressure and don't have cartridge. Unscrew these and they go off in your face (Chubb had a fatality due to someone doing this)

Being a powder fire extinguisher it would make a hell of a mess of the house and possibly afflict the wielder with choking dust nearly as badly as the target.

Never discharge indoors except as a last resort - I was told by a trainer on an offshore firefighting course. The powder is corrosive...

"The most common agents used in dry chemical fire extinguishers are monoammonium phosphate and sodium or potassium bicarbonate. Time is of the essence when this type of extinguisher is used because these powders can be corrosive to metals and can lead to further damage if not cleaned up quickly."

If you use one on a running engine (e.g. one 'dieseling') it will ingest it and write itself off in the process.

To the OP - Instead of asking the drones at the tip, see what the council website says.  You have checked that it is dry powder haven't you and not CO2 or Halon? CO2 you should set off to gain experience. Halon is a bad Ozone depletant and should be disposed of properly. Powder you can probably set off but it does make a huge mess, so perhaps best donated to someone likely to have a genuine need to set it off like a fire extinguisher training company / motorsport venue / fire brigade.

My council tip takes them for a fee. If it still has pressure I'd just keep it.

jk

I had a couple of old dry powder extinguishers to get rid of, so decided to use them on a bonfire in the garden for a bit of practice (I am trained as a fire warden at work). All good, the powder soon dissolved when it next rained. Took the empties to my local recycling centre (tip) where they were accepted without question. There were many extinguishers, dive cylinders and other pressure vessels inside the locked storage compound.

N

See my post of 21:43 on Monday.

Yes.

As I noted previously, Scottish Fire & Rescue don't want it.

Is there a straightforward way to tell which type mine is?  FWIW: it doesn't have a pressure gauge.

Hang on: I've just found another one hiding in a dark corner in the garage.  That one definitely says "charged to <some>psi with nitrogen" so I'm guessing there's no CO2 cylinder in that one.  The other one says "do not remove valve assembly" so I'm guessing that's also pressurised.  Oh, plus there's a wee button you're supposed to press and if it springs back then it's OK to use, which suggests the same.

Brilliant!

We don't have a cat, though

I can lend you one, but it's not mine so no questions asked.

Squirt it outdoors in heavy rain or carefully into a bucket of water if that is possible? The powder might be irritating indoors but should be water soluble, non-toxic and quickly gone outdoors.

Oil field lesson #2 - there used to be a training film called "Don't tease the tiger" about the dangers of underestimating anything that might be pressurised. Some ugly accidents!

Many years ago I was a storeman at a commercial diving school, filled a lot of air cylinders to 200+ bars, it was always entertaining when an o-ring blew!

The pressurised ones normally have a pressure guage. 

If you are unsure. DO NOT TAKE THE HEAD OFF. You must ensure its not dangerous first.

Another trick is to turn it upside down. Give it a shake tap and tickle. Youll feel the powder slump down. Once that's happened let it off upside down. Most of the powder stays in the extinguisher. It will still give a cloud that will upset the polished car owner down the road. But won't empty the whole thing. 

Scrap metal skip divers may be interested.

Powder salt s powder on the front. 

Carbon dioxide has a horn not a hose and the cylinder neck is stamped with pressure testing markings. 

Tbh if you can't tell what you've got, let someone who does deal with it. 

Don't trust the very small fire extinguishers you'd buy for a car etc. They're just a pain to deal with as the Ali can is so thin it can fail easy when removing it.