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BENICIA NEWS AND VIEWS
Going Camping? It’s a Gas!...
n Gene Pedrotti
Is there a way we could address this wasteful by-product as we had with batteries and lamps?
14 • Benicia Magazine
Consider the ubiquitous Coleman cannister — you know, the little onepound propane tank that screws into a camp stove. Great product, but horrific waste when empty. It is likely that far more energy is used in the mining of ore or steel production of a Coleman than the gas that fills it. And what a mess they make in campgrounds and national parks! They are expensive to handle and to dispose of. According to Maria Knutson, recycling coordinator for Republic Services in Benicia, empty tanks are hazardous material and, when improperly thrown in the trash, can cost up to $10 per can to separate and send to proper disposal, a hidden cost which Benicia residents pay as it is built into the waste rates for Benicia. Worse, she noted, “We don’t want them in our garbage or recycling trucks because they are explosive!” Twenty years ago, I approached the City and Republic Services, offering the hardware store as a drop off site for household fluorescent tubes and alkaline batteries. Since then, residents have deposited thousands of lamps and loads of batteries, perhaps a million by now! One day pondering the waste caused by Coleman empties, I thought: Is there a way we could address this wasteful by-product as we had with batteries and lamps?
This started two summers ago while spending a few nights in Nevada City with my husband, Ian, where we encountered an usual product — a refillable one pound propane tank called Flame King. At $15, it was a stout, well-constructed tank, reusable and refillable. As well, in these Sierra foothills where camping is popular, there was a local propane supplier, Kamps Propane, who was
