Can You Scrap Empty Gas Bottles

scrap camp fuel bottles
Can you scrap empty gas bottles? Yes, you can scrap empty gas bottles but I don’t suggest that you scrap any gas bottle you find.

Gas bottles, like the ones that you see gathered on the backs of stake trucks are nearly 100 percent of the time meant for commercial use.




These types of gas bottles are manufactured using a steel alloy or aluminum. Manufacturers started to use aluminum some years ago to cut down on the weight of gas bottles.

Aluminum gas bottles also stop the corrosion that happens with steel alloy gas bottles effectively making them a safer choice.

Depending on what type of gas is housed in a bottle, manufacturers may take additional steps to make sure their gas bottles don’t flinch under pressure.

If there is extreme outward pressure from for example; using gas bottles attached to a vehicle that is submerged in the ocean or on spacecraft, gas bottle manufacturers layer these types of bottles with carbon, Kevlar or a glass fiber.

The reason why specific companies only manufacture gas bottles is because they are dangerous. In order to recycle gas bottles they have to be baked at more than 1300 degrees.

When gas bottles are found to be defective many companies empty them and then add a foam type filler into the bottles. This is done to stop people from possibly reusing gas bottles that have had hazardous gases in them. Don’t confuse a defective gas bottle with an acetylene gas bottle, which is filled with material to keep the gas stable.

You should not touch or even approach what you assume to be empty gas bottles that you may find in buildings, garages or lying in fields. You should however, notify your local police department so that they can take care of the matter.

For our safety, we do not accept commercial gas bottles from scrappers. We only accept them from companies licensed to have and handle them.





Gas bottles that are empty and have been punctured or halved that we do accept from scrappers are as follows.

• Disposable campsite gas bottles or cylinders
• BBQ gas bottles
• Patio heater gas cylinders
• Motor home or caravan gas bottles
• Portable heater gas cylinders
• Sodastream gas bottles
• CO2 gas cylinders such as those used during a paintball game
• NOS gas cylinders smaller than 25 inches

If you are not 100% certain that a scrap gas bottle or cylinder that you have is empty, do not attempt to open, cut or puncture it. You can read the bottom half of this article for some tips: Read this

I am sure that you can easily find some information or video showing someone cutting open a gas bottle online. That does not mean that the task is right for you. Much of the videos that you see online are for entertainment purposes.

I personally have a friend that owns a scrap yard who had a gas cylinder explode in one of his steel piles. A scrapper forgot that he had put a small gas cylinder inside of a washing machine that he assumed was empty.

I am sure that you can imagine how scared everyone was when they heard the tank explode. He told me that he was so scared that he did not know if he should run or take cover.

Other than bad headaches and ringing in the ears, luckily no one was hurt badly. You can surely believe me; he added a dozen new rules for scrapping metal at his yard after that happened.

There is no school for scrapping metal. This is why I share all that I know with you. If money did grow on trees, I would tell you where the trees are so that you could get a seed to grow your own money tree.

I can tell you where and when people throw money into the streets. It happens in every city the night before garbage day.

Stay safe out there while you’re scrapping. Remember; don’t let new scrappers make bad choices that we all will suffer from, send them to our site.