Consumer desire to reduce waste and improvise recycling clashes with safety requirements on refilling smaller propane canisters.

Small propane canisters commonly used to fuel camping stoves and lanterns – known as one-pounders – are generally not refillable. Yet it is easy to find internet retailers who can provide adapters that claim to safely allow for the transfer of propane from larger barbecue containers to the empty camping containers. It’s easy to see the appeal for campers looking to reduce the waste generated by multiple empty metal containers at the end of a camping trip. The adapters can be purchased for $20 or less. There are numerous instructional videos, as well as web sites and message boards that extol how easy and smart it is.

But it’s not legal in Ontario, for a number of safety reasons. Ontario’s Technical Standards and Safety Authority issued numerous safety alert bulletins noting that the adaptors designed to complete transfers into smaller, non-refillable cylinders are illegal under the Propane Storage and Handling Code. This is because of the public safety risks posed by fires, explosions and burn hazards. As a result the adaptors cannot be sold in stores.

Propane cylinders must be filled by weight or volume at a TSSA-licensed facility, and Specification 39 canisters (the one-pound camping propane bottles) cannot be refilled at all. More details on the TSSA bulletin are available here.

Ontario campsites have large containers to collect the empty canisters, which are later vented, crushed and recycled.

The TSSA is responsible for promoting and enforcing public safety in Ontario. The Technical Standards and Safety Act regulations apply to three key sectors:
1. Boilers and pressure vessels and operating engineers
2. Elevating devices, amusement devices and ski lifts
3. Fuels