Fire Extinguisher Recycling & How to Recycle Smoke Detectors in Boulder County

Fire safety is top of mind for many of us right now. Make checking expiration dates on your extinguishers and smoke detectors part of your January home maintenance routine!

Did you know that fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors expire? This time of year is known for incorporating healthy habits, and a good one to add to your resolutions list is performing an annual safety check of these items, marking your calendar for when to recycle and replace them.

With the devastating fires currently impacting Southern California, as well as Boulder County having recently reached the three-year mark following the Marshall Fire—one of the most destructive urban fires in US history—there’s no time like the present to ensure your home’s fire safety devices are up to date.

Fire Extinguishers

The Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM) works with a company based in Denver called Cintas that collects the fire extinguishers dropped off at the CHaRM facility, then evaluates them for reuse. First they discharge the contents of the extinguishers into a “hopper” sealed containment system. Extinguisher cylinders that are still up to code (which means the valve and threads are still viable) get refilled with these reused contents. For units that are not viable, the vendor will destroy the threads and then recycle the cylinder as scrap metal.

Our recycling partner recommends that extinguishers be maintained every six years regardless of expiration date. If the extinguisher is left in one spot immobile for a long time, the contents can settle and it will not be functional.

CHaRM accepts the following varieties of fire extinguisher in connection with our vendor:

any dry powder extinguishers (ABC, BC, D, K)
pressurized water extinguishers
CO₂ extinguishers

Fire extinguishers collected at the Eco-Cycle CHaRM facility.

Fortunately, there is an option for recovering some varieties that we do not accept at CHaRM. The Boulder County Hazardous Materials Management Facility (HMMF) can take the following styles of extinguisher:

aerosol
hand pump

Smoke Detectors

Smoke detectors are consumer products that have specialty disposal processes and requirements. Complicating matters further, some models contain materials that are more hazardous than others. Fortunately for folks who live near the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder CHaRM, our facility can accept both the older, more toxic models as well as newer “smart” devices.

Smoke detectors packaged for monthly shipment to Curie Environmental.

Here are a few details for the different varieties of detectors on the market as well as associated processing fees for those accepted at CHaRM*:

Photoelectric smoke detectors: These are considered e-waste and sent to our downstream electronics recycling vendor, Blue Star Recyclers, and incur a cost of 59 cents per pound. Sometimes a detector has features that are both photoelectric and ionization in design, but whenever they contain microcuries of a radioactive isotope, indicating ionization, they must be handled as such to ensure appropriate processing.
Ionization smoke detectors: These detectors contain small amounts of hazardous, radioactive materials, and the first step for CHaRM staff is to confirm which kind of isotope is used and whether it’s within the margins we’re certified to handle. CHaRM can accept units that contain the isotope Americium-241 (abbreviated as “Am-241”) in quantities of less than 1 microcurie, and they incur a fee of $15 per unit. If the detector contains between 1 and 5 microcuries of Am-241, we refer customers to our downstream recycling vendor, Curie Environmental, which is based in New Mexico and offers mail-in programs. If your detector contains over 5 microcuries of Am-241 or any other isotope, such as Ra-226 or Ni-63, please contact the Radioactive Materials Unit of CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) for guidance.
Carbon monoxide detectors are classified as e-waste, and cost 59 cents per pound to recycle—unless the item is both a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector, in which case it will be charged as a smoke detector according to type.

Not sure what you have? Please bring your item to the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder CHaRM facility any time during business hours and our staff would be happy to evaluate your materials and assess the cost to recycle. Contact us at [email protected], or 303-444-6634 with any further questions.

* Please note that fees are subject to change. Find the most current pricing information at ecocycle.org/charm-fees.