Q. How do you properly dispose of empty aerosol cans?

A. The answer depends, in general, on whether your aerosol cans held nonhazardous waste or hazardous waste. If the contents were nonhazardous, the aerosol cans can be disposed of in accordance state and local solid waste disposal regulations. If they held hazardous waste but are empty in accordance with the common definition of “empty” (i.e. have had their contents removed) and meet the RCRA definition of “scrap metal” found at 40 CFR 261.1(c)(6) they can be recycled in accordance with 40 CFR 261.6(a)(3)(ii).

If the contents were hazardous wastes, the aerosol cans can be disposed of under either the state and local hazardous waste regulations or, if the state has adopted the federal universal waste provision that identifies aerosol cans as a universal waste, under the state’s universal waste rules. If the can’s contents were hazardous wastes, most generators of hazardous waste aerosol cans choose to dispose of the cans in accordance with the less stringent universal waste rules.

Note, however, that while the “applicability -aerosol cans” universal waste regulation states that aerosol cans that meet the RCRA “empty container standard” (described in 40 CFR 261.7) are not subject to the universal waste regulations, this does not prohibit a handler from managing “RCRA empty” hazardous waste aerosol cans under the universal waste rules if that is their preference.