Can you throw an empty fire extinguisher in the regular trash?
Trash collectors often reject fire extinguishers because they cannot tell if the tank is fully pressurized or safe. This forces residents to navigate strict local hazardous waste rules just to get rid of an old, empty cylinder.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Taking it to a local household hazardous waste depotDid this help you?
- 2Getting it recharged and reusedDid this help you?
- 3Calling the non-emergency line of the local fire departmentDid this help you?
- 4Taking it to local distributors for disposal or exchangeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It says to dispose after use, do not try to refill. Just making sure regular trash disposal is ok.”source ↗
“I think if the garbage guys see it, it will get tagged as hazardous waste...they dont know if its fully discharged.”source ↗
“I'm in Wheat Ridge CO and need to dispose of this completely empty Kidde fire extinguisher. Can I just put it in my regular trash for pickup?”source ↗
Where this came up
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