SPSA Advises on Proper Propane Cylinder Disposal

The warm weather from last weekend is a reminder that spring, and the outdoor grilling that goes with it are just around the corner.  With that in mind, the Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) would like to remind customers not to throw away empty propane tanks or cylinders with their regular trash. 

SPSA asks that residents who need to dispose of such items take them to any of SPSA’s Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facilities located at the transfer stations in each of the communities the authority serves.

          Residents can check out SPSA’s website, www.spsa.com for hours and directions to each of the HHW drop off points.  Two of the collection locations; the regional landfill in Suffolk and the Virginia Beach Landfill II site on Jake Sears Road, are open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for HHW.

          Empty propane tanks present health and safety risk, due the possibility of fires and explosions if mishandled.  This risk is particularly acute at the Waste to Energy facility operated by SPSA, where each year more than 700 thousand tons of trash are shredded, burned and converted into 3.5 million pounds of steam and 225 thousand kilowatts of electricity.  

          According to SPSA Environmental Supervisor Gordon Briggs, more than 75% of the propane tanks that come to SPSA are those improperly disposed of in the trash rather than turned in to SPSA’s HHW facilities.

          “That’s a number we’d like to turn around,” he said.

          The propane, oxygen, Freon and other compressed gas cylinders are manually removed from the waste stream before they can become a hazard.

          “If a tank got through our system and into the shredder it could possibly cause an explosion,” said SPSA Refuse Derived Fuel Plant Operations Manager, Danny Armstrong.

          Propane tanks are just one of the household items accepted at SPSA’s HHW facilities.  Paints, pesticides and dangerous cleaning materials are just some of the other products that should be taken to a facility instead of being disposed of curbside.  A full list of hazardous materials that should be taken to an HHW site can be found on the website.