Empty Deodorant Aerosol

In short

An aerosol can is steel or aluminium, so the metal itself is valuable — but the propellant makes it a pressurised container, and that is what determines how you handle it. Many councils exclude aerosols from kerbside recycling even when empty, so check your own list. A can that is not completely empty is a hazard and should go to a household hazardous waste drop-off rather than any bin.

What it's made of

What something is made from is what decides where it can go — this is usually the reason an item can't be recycled.

• A tinplate steel or aluminium body — both are recyclable metals with real value.
• A plastic cap, which is usually a different plastic from the can and comes off easily.
• Residual propellant gas, which stays under pressure even when the can seems empty.
• A small valve assembly of plastic and metal.

Before you get rid of it

1. Use it until it is genuinely empty — no spray and no hiss when you press the nozzle.
2. Never pierce the can. It seems like a sensible way to release pressure and it is the single most dangerous thing you can do with one.
3. Never crush it, and never put it in a fire or an incinerator.
4. Take the plastic cap off and deal with it separately as plastic.
5. Check your council's accepted list before putting the can in the recycling. If aerosols are not on it, or if the can is not empty, use a household hazardous waste drop-off.

Common mistakes

• Piercing a can to "make sure" it is empty. The residual propellant is flammable and under pressure — this causes injuries.
• Putting a part-full can in any bin. It can rupture under the pressure of a compacting truck, and it is a known cause of fires at transfer stations and recycling facilities.
• Assuming an aerosol is the same as a drink can. The metal is similar; the pressure vessel is not, and that is why the rules differ.
• Leaving the plastic cap on when recycling the can, which just adds a contaminant to the metal stream.

Better than binning it

• There is no safe home reuse for an aerosol can — do not refill or repurpose them as containers.
• Buying stick, roll-on or refillable alternatives avoids the problem entirely, since they have no pressurised component.

What happens to it

Where aerosols are accepted, steel cans are pulled out of the stream with magnets and aluminium with an eddy current separator, then melted down like any other scrap metal. Steel and aluminium both recycle indefinitely without losing quality. The complication is purely the propellant: facilities need confidence that cans arriving are fully discharged, which is why so many councils keep them off the kerbside list.

Questions people ask