Gas cylinders or bottles

General information about gas cylinders

LPG cylinders contain either butane (mainly for indoor use) or propane (better suited to outdoor use). Some gas companies that supply them retain legal ownership of, and responsibility for, the cylinder throughout its life.

Gas cylinders are pressure vessels, so when one is returned to a supplier for exchange, it's subject to periodic testing and inspection to confirm it can safely withstand the pressure of the gas being pumped in (which changes it to a liquid state).

Further advice: https://www.liquidgasuk.org/domestic/lpg-cylinder-supply-and-return

If a cylinder contains a gas other than LPG (propane or butane), the company that owns it - whose name should be on the cylinder - is likely to retain legal ownership and responsibility for it. For advice on non-LPG cylinders, see the British Compressed Gas Association website (http://www.bcga.co.uk/pages/index.cfm).

Some local authority household waste recycling centres accept cylinders - see https://www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/gas-bottles-1 to search for one near you. https://recycling.co.uk/recycling-gas-bottles/ also has information about recycling cylinders.

Calor Gas

Calor Gas gives this guidance about their cylinders:

Cylinders remain the property of the Company at all times and may only be filled by the Company. The company makes the cylinder(s) available to the user as a means of safely transporting and storing the gas supplied. This agreement is not a rental agreement and it does not provide the user with title in the cylinder. The user will not part with possession or control of the cylinder(s) (other than to a CALOR outlet) nor claim to have any rights that conflict with this agreement, nor create or purport or attempt to create any agency or bailment in relation to the cylinder(s) or to the user's obligations.

Links:

• https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/returns
• https://www.calor.co.uk/news-and-views/illegal-handling-scrapping-of-calor-gas-cylinders
• https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/cylinder-refill-agreement (which gives the quote above)

This suggests Calor Gas cylinders shouldn't be offered or requested on Freegle. BUT, Elaine (Penrith) got email confirmation in January 2023 that it's OK to pass on 15kg bottles: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/calor-gas-bottles-illegal/5535/97. The email read:

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your time earlier. To confirm Calor is not issuing any new cylinders at the moment. We are currently just doing like for like exchanges. You will require an empty 15kg butane Calor cylinder to hand in to get a full one in exchange. If you have a friend or associate that has an 15kg butane cylinder they are no longer using and they are happy to hand it to you then that would be ideal. The suggested price fore a 15kg cylinder exchange is £53.

Regards

Berkley Griffin, Acquisitions

Tachbrook Park, Athena House, Athena Drive, Tachbrook Park, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 6RL. Tel: 01926 318494. Fax: 08704 006921

It's probably a good idea to remind a member wanting to offer one that they can call Calor and ask them to collect the cylinder. If it's not empty, Calor say they'll give a partial refund - see the first link above.

FloGas

Flogas terms of sale (https://www.flogas.co.uk/terms-of-sale):

5.5 each of the Goods will be new and conveyed by Supplier to Buyer with good title, free and clear of all encumbrances;

9.3 Title and risk in the Goods shall pass to the Buyer on completion of delivery to the Delivery Location

See also: https://www.flogas.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/will-i-be-charged-for-the-cylinder

This last link indicates that cylinders remain FloGas's property, suggesting they shouldn't be offered or requested on Freegle. BUT Melissa (Eastbourne) received this reply from the company on Facebook in April 2024 [1]:

Hi Melissa, as they are property of flogas when they are not being used or are no longer required they do need to be returned back to flogas, if you wish someone else to use the cylinder that's fine with us but you would need to return this once it is empty or finished with. Kind Regards

So they can be passed on to someone else to use, as long as they eventually go back to FloGas once no longer needed.

Camping Gaz

The larger bottles supplied by Camping Gaz are refillable - models R907 (2.75kg butane), R904 (1.8kg butane) and R901 (400g butane). The smaller cartridges are disposable. Camping Gaz doesn't retain legal responsibility for the refillable models or the cartridges, so these can be offered or requested on Freegle.

Sample rejection message

Suggested wording if you want to reject gas canister posts:

Regrettably this post is declined. Our research indicates that most bottles belong to the gas bottle supplier and legally we understand that bottles should be returned to them rather than exchanged privately.

If the member was offering a Calor bottle, you could add:

We suggest you call Calor and ask them to collect the cylinder. If it is not empty, Calor say they will give a partial refund. For more info, see https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/returns.

The most recent conversation about gas bottle freegling: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/calor-gas-bottles-illegal/5535

Links:

• Specific Items
• Sample Messages