The AAC is teaming up with Erratic Rock, Leave No Trace, MSR, and Outdoor Research on a great new initiative to recycle fuel canisters in Chilean Patagonia. The program will be headquartered at Erratic Rock: the Puerto Natales–based hostel, guide service, and all-around base camp for climbers and trekkers in the Torres del Paine.
Tens of thousands of steel fuel canisters are used in Patagonia each season, and most of them end up in the trash. However, the steel can easily be recycled if the canisters are collected, punctured, and crushed.
The AAC is helping to pay for 1,000 posters that will be distributed throughout Patagonia to promote this effort. The organizers hope this initiative may serve as a model for similar recycling efforts in other climbing areas.
This is the second big conservation effort the AAC has helped launch recently in Patagonia. The club is also a cosponsor of the Los Glaciares Trails Project in Argentina. Click here for more info.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Its about time this issue has come up!! Im very proud of the club for bringing this forward! These canisters are an environmental disaster everywhere, not just Patagonia. I wonder how many of these are in American landfills? Does anyone out there have good recycling processes laid out for these canisters?
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
What makes the recycling process complex for these canisters it the fact that they are filled with pressurized gas! So puncturing and crushing needs to be done by a ‘professional’. The recycling itself is easy – it’s steel, and steel recycling is almost everywhere.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
in the states, you can recycle the canisters in most mixed-metal recycling programs (this rules out a lot of household recycling programs because they only take single metal items such as aluminium or tin cans and most canisters are made with more than one type of metal). they must be empty and punctured so that they can’t explode under pressure. snow peak makes a can punch made out of brass so it won’t spark and ignite the fuel vapors in the canister. call your local recycling company if you aren’t sure about recycling the canisters. and if the residential recycling won’t take them, talk to your local gear shop to see if their commercial recycling will take them.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:32 am
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July 27th, 2010 at 10:21 am
How about in Seattle? How about not including instructions in 8 languages in your stoves, MSR?