How to Dispose of a Road Flare

Road flares are useful safety tools for when you get into a car accident and need to signal for assistance and to ensure you are seen clearly by other drivers on the road. Road flares contain perchlorate salts that are responsible for helping to ignite these small, bright flames. Because of these salts, disposing of flares isn't as easy as tossing them in your trash. Proper disposal can ensure that the strong chemicals in flares don't contaminate your environment.

Things You'll Need

• 2 plastic trash bags that can be sealed
• Phone book

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Place used flares in a plastic bag that can be sealed and bag them once more in another plastic bag. Set the bag aside somewhere, such as in your garage or by trashcans, but make sure it is an area where children and animals do not have access to.

• 2

  Call your local sanitation department to find out locations where you can bring flares. You cannot dispose of flares at home, and your sanitation department can give you locations and times you can bring flares in. Look in the back of your phone book under "Sanitation" or "Waste Management" for numbers in your area.

• 3

  Bring your bagged flares to a location nearby that your local sanitation or waste management department has instructed. Give used flares over to them and briefly describe when and how the flares were handled so that they can take any safety measures needed.