Putting TEPs in the marina skip - what happens next

[Bosun Higgs]

Much the same effect can be achieved with some hot ashes from the fire.

What could have happened when someone put this gas bottle in their wheely bin?

Used to get that regularly in the steelworks. Tip the scrap in gas bottle into the arc furnace and pretty soon there would be one hell of a bang.

 

[mjcp]

May have been done before but...

Has anyone suggested a disposal method of attending a "range" or similar "safe" area, well inland, and allowing the disposer to left off said device... (giving valuable experience when not at the coal face too)

Am I correct in assuming that Time Expired means "may not work correctly", rather than dangerous, unstable etc...?

mjcp

 

[kieronriley]

old flares

dont do what some idiot did at our club,we have a big oil drum which people deposit there rubish in and about once a month myself or some other member will set alight ,it is only suposed to have waste buttie wrapers and such like put in it .i went to light it the other month and i dont know what stopped me but for the first time ever i took a look inside the bin ,and under some cake boxes i found a supermarket bag and inside it i found about a dozen flares,rocket red and smoke,we never found out who put them there but the bin has now gone and we have had an expert in to inform all members to the dangers if old flares,so take great care and do dispose of them in the proper fashion.Kieron

 

[IanR]

Disposing of out of date flares

Last time I checked with Solent Coastguard at Lee on Solent, the next available appointment was 4/5 months hence, this seems to have remained constant since the refusal to accept flares at police stations etc.

Perhaps if flares were as dangerous as refrigerators we would have a proper recycling scheme. Is there not some requirement for dangerous goods to be sent back to manufacturer e.g. batteries etc?

I don't know what the answer is but I now have two generations of flares in my garage, hardly safe there either!

 

[Ubergeekian]

Last time I checked with Solent Coastguard at Lee on Solent, the next available appointment was 4/5 months hence, this seems to have remained constant since the refusal to accept flares at police stations etc.

I bet the police wouldn't refuse them if they were - hypothetically, you understand - wiped clean of fingerprints and left in a plastic bag dangling from the copshop door handle. Somewhere with no CCTV, of course. Hypothetically.

 

[nimbusgb]

Why should the marina carry all the risk and high cost of safe collection and disposal, and let the manufacturers and vendors off the hook !

I'm not suggesting the marina carries the entire cost and yes the manufacturers need to come up with some solution. OTOH the marinas will have more and more burning garbage trucks on their hands and the council will simply refuse their refuse at some point.

I would not be surprised if there are LOTS of TEP's in the bottom of landfills all over the country.

 

[Searush]

(snip)
Am I correct in assuming that Time Expired means "may not work correctly", rather than dangerous, unstable etc...?

mjcp

We-eell, it may be that they work fine, not at all or even explode. Even "in date" flares have been known to not work or explode when fired. This is why some forumites will not carry them at all.

 

[neil_s]

disposing of TEPs

The local amenity site took my bag of TEPs a few weeks ago. I handed them to the attendant and explained what they were - he took them with no further argument. Worth a try?

Neil

 

[Searush]

The local amenity site took my bag of TEPs a few weeks ago. I handed them to the attendant and explained what they were - he took them with no further argument. Worth a try?

Neil

He's probably been sacked for that!


AND there will be a pile of standing orders issued to stop it happening again!

 

[lw395]

Searush's signature line seems very apt!

I was thinking of selling my TEP's on ebay.

 

[V1701]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but would putting them in a bucket of water for a few days render them skippable? I ask as have got a box of out of date ones on board that I could do with getting shut of...

 

[Steve Clayton]

I was thinking of selling my TEP's on ebay.

No - not allowed : http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/fireworks.html

I think BNick should be the YBW stand, every day, for "MY" Boatshow handing out leaflets(and maybe giving lectures - every 2 hours - on one of the stages), re the dangers of inappropriate flare disposal.

 

[lw395]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but would putting them in a bucket of water for a few days render them skippable? I ask as have got a box of out of date ones on board that I could do with getting shut of...

No, that would possibly just make them dangerously unstable.

 

[prv]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but would putting them in a bucket of water for a few days render them skippable?

I hope not, as I doubt everything will be lovely and dry when I need to use them.

What if they sat in a waterlogged liferaft for days until you saw a ship? Surely they're hermetically sealed, and tear, punch or burn through the plastic only when fired.

Pete

 

[alan_d]

Has anyone ever bought a secondhand boat that didn't have TEPs on board?

That's your answer - either sell them with your boat or give them to someone else who is selling theirs.

 

[LittleSister]

TEP

Only ten weeks to bonfire night!

 

[Kelpie]

No, that would possibly just make them dangerously unstable.

How does that work then? Are they made of sodium or something??

I remember when I was a kid I had an Estes rocket... the little solid-fuel motors had disposal instructions stating that 'unwanted' motors should be thoroughly soaked to make them safe. Although I never did understand why you would spend good money on them and then not want to fire them.