Somerset Council remind us not to put Gas canisters with rubbish collections
1,000 fire-starting gas canisters found in Somerset’s recycling
As camping season gets underway, Somerset Council and its kerbside collections contractor, SUEZ, are reminding residents of the danger of putting gas canisters in their recycling.
This year alone, more than 1,000 potential fires from gas canisters have been avoided, thanks to the crews at the recovery facilities in Taunton and Evercreech.
Due to the increasing number of canisters being put out with recycling, crews have had no choice other than to manually check recycling ahead of the automated sorting process to avoid sparking dangerous blazes.
The small canisters, mainly used for camping gas stoves, are often mistakenly put in the kerbside recycling ‘Bright Blue Bag’. The bag can be used to recycle empty aerosol bottles (for example, hair spray or deodorant), but should never be used to dispose of gas canisters.
Aerosols contain a smaller amount of ignitable gas and the bottles are under less pressure. This means they are less likely to ignite if crushed.
Gas canisters are almost all gas which is stored at a high pressure. This makes the bottles more likely to explode if crushed.
Gas canisters must be taken a local household recycling site. Always check with team on-site for the correct area to put these.