getting rid of old flares

Birdseye

Birdseye

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As short a distance as feasible from Cardiff.

I have a fair collection of old flares in two waterproof containers. I'll set off the hand helds come bonfire night but the parachute flares and the smokes?

I would like to do the job properly but if that service isnt available ..................... Ideas?
 
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Pretty sure I’ve said this here before.

Wigmore Wright used to take them for about 2.50 a flare disposal cost. Professional disposal.

Now they are team marine not sure but suspect they will do so.

So flares easily disposed of in Cardiff (Penarth) at modest cost.

No free disposal so depends what you want.
 
Maybe I'm a bit tight but I do rather expect waste disposal to be free for domestic purposes. And I guess that I have approaching 40 of them.

Force 4 were happy to sell me some new ones but excused themselves from taking old ones saying they didnt have an explosives licence. When flares in any rational sense are no more explosives than other fireworks.
 
You are a bit tight because it’s not the case that cost-effective disposal isn’t easily available in the area, it’s that it isn’t free.
Don’t think the man on the Cardiff omnibus would be sanguine about your view that pyrotechnics are your average domestic waste. You’ve got a specialist thing which needs specialist disposal. Dunno that the council taxes of the 99.9% of folk who are not ever likely to need a service you think should be free should be paying for you to get rid of them.

You admit yourself that you bought these things without any idea how you would dispose of them, and that you are now stockpiling (at home?) things the manufacturers say are now dangerous to use. not going to get a lot of public sympathy i’m Afraid.
 
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birdseye said:
Maybe I'm a bit tight but I do rather expect waste disposal to be free for domestic purposes. And I guess that I have approaching 40 of them.

Force 4 were happy to sell me some new ones but excused themselves from taking old ones saying they didnt have an explosives licence. When flares in any rational sense are no more explosives than other fireworks.
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As a minimum, I would not buy flares from someone unless they took in at least the same number of out of date ones in return. The CG sometimes have flare amnesties. Try googling and see if they have anything coming up. Try your local plod shop. They sometimes have safe storage for such things. You could always walk in and say "look what I found out on the street" :D
 
I think that throwing in the sea is generally considered unacceptable. Having said that, placed in a bucket, which was then topped up with concrete and then thrown into the sea over an old ordinance dumping ground where it would never be disturbed might be a suitable procedure.
 
any retailer that sells flares should have routines in place to dispose of them too

check your new flares are produced from a locked steel cabinet if not something is wrong
 
CLB said:
I think that throwing in the sea is generally considered unacceptable. Having said that, placed in a bucket, which was then topped up with concrete and then thrown into the sea over an old ordinance dumping ground where it would never be disturbed might be a suitable procedure.
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Thats a good idea! If you are near this spot to drop it overboard they will never spot your little addition! Its a joke! Its a joke!300px-Thames_Richard_Montgomery_KC_7722_(Modified).JPG
 
Quimby said:
Thats a good idea! If you are near this spot to drop it overboard they will never spot your little addition! Its a joke! Its a joke!View attachment 72822
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To be honest, they probably would. That site is meticulously surveyed in a regular basis. I was thinking more like Beauforts Dyke or similar. They are already full of far more serious explosives, so what harm can a few concrete encased flares do? In fact, I believe that encasing in concrete and dumping In the sea in these places was use for low level radioactive waste during the 50's. I think there is another one off the coast of the IoW.
 
bitbaltic said:
You admit yourself that you bought these things without any idea how you would dispose of them, and that you are now stockpiling (at home?) things the manufacturers say are now dangerous to use. not going to get a lot of public sympathy i’m Afraid.
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No I didnt buy them. Every one of them came with boats that I bought and sadly I forgot to land some of them on the buyer of my last boat when I sold it.

Yes I do expect my LA to provide disposal facilities just as they do for other things like petrol and chemicals If they dont provide free facilities, some people ( not me!) will fly tip as you see in the verges of our green and pleasant land.
 
I know it;s not close but we recently took some to what used to be HMS Daedalus, in Lee on Solent. If you have forty and they charge £2.50 each in Cardiff, it's worth the trip. You could visit the Mary Rose too.
Allan
 
Solent Coastguard who used to be in the large house on the edge of Daedalus Airfield are no longer there. Now up on the outskirts of Fareham. Calling 02392 552100 may give you disposal information for your area.

j
 
birdseye said:
No I didnt buy them. Every one of them came with boats that I bought and sadly I forgot to land some of them on the buyer of my last boat when I sold it.

Yes I do expect my LA to provide disposal facilities just as they do for other things like petrol and chemicals If they dont provide free facilities, some people ( not me!) will fly tip as you see in the verges of our green and pleasant land.
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I had the same problem - it's a nightmare !
 
The disposal and de-activisation of time-expired pyrotechnics is relatively straightforward, as Stephen Bevan, Operations Manager of EOD Contracts, another firm that specialises in this field, explains. “They will generally be taken to a safety range where they are ignited and burned. The chemicals get burnt off. What else that can be recovered will be used. We’ve got two streams of waste. Some of the plastics that cannot be put through any other system still go into landfill, although we are trying to find another route at present.”


So why is it such a problem ? Heavy steel box, firelighter from a distance , problem solved for a small batch!:rolleyes:
 
Bonfire night is approaching.

I'm 8 miles from the shore. If I set them some off on 5-Nov, evening, in my back yard (or the park, as it could panic the neighbours in a dense residential!)....

... Would probably wear a gauntlet we use for the stove, and immediately drop/place it on a slab or dry mud (something damage-able). Then bag up remains and leave in garden for a week before binning...

Would that sound reasonable? Or would the police/fire crews kick my ass?
 
I wouldn't let para rockets off but S.W.I.M. who lives 100 miles inland has let old handhelds off and thrown them into an oildrum bbq to burn out. They get that hot it was distorting the metal!

Out of 5 I think 1 failed and lives in a metal box full of water till S.W.I.M works out what to do with it.
 
Don't want to sound confrontational, but why is it so important to "safely" dispose of old flares?

Clearly there's a fire risk of simply disposing of them as household waste.

To make them safe, what's wrong with, say, cutting them open while holding them in a bucket of water?

Once neutralised in this way, they're surely no more dangerous than household chemicals thrown away in the usual way.
 
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