From the WA Transport web site

Please do not discard unserviceable flares in general rubbish collections or land fill.To ensure that the equipment is safely destroyed, flares should be disposed of at the following Department of Transport offices:Fremantle (Marine Operations).Hillarys.Mandurah (Marine Operations).Albany.Broome.Bunbury.Carnarvon.Esperance.Exmouth.Geraldton.Karratha.Kununurra.For addresses and contact information, please go to the Our locations page.

www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/flares.asp

Regards Don

Thanks Gents.. It probably would've paid to look at the DoT website first hey

Find some private property out of town,,Grab your old flares and head out there with the missus and kids in the winter and let them off. Tie your real old rocket flares to a post and rig a string remote so if they cato, it doesn't happen in your face.
Maybe a Seabreezers BBQ / flare disposal outing in the countryside coming up?

To hell with the frowns you bought the damned things have fun setting them off, otherwise it's just a waste of money, New Years is coming up start 2016 off with a bang.

Chris 249 said..
When I was a teenager we were doing the traditional Christmas-NYE cruise when someone let off rocket flares in Refuge Cove in Broken Bay. It started a bushfire so the local volunteers had to leave their NY parties and put it out. Nice.

A few years later, when I had my own first yacht, I was at a regatta on Guy Fawkes Night so I tied some old rockets that had been on the boat to a jetty, put a string on the triggers, and fired them off safely into the open and empty water. It was all good clean fun until I pulled one string and the entire guts of the flare came out of the body, rolled across the jetty and landed beside where I had been. I've always run slowly, except for that night.

The other thing to watch is that the rocket motors come down. We were doing the pre-Hobart flare practice day a few years back when a certain multiple winner fired off a bunch of rockets near us. Suddenly the guy on our helm gunned the boat into a circle but we still were bombarded with bits of rocket falling from the sky, one of them hitting the owner. No injuries but still a bit of a surprise.

Funny you say that, after 23 years selling boats and a life time on the water, i had never set of a flare. SO a few years back mates at work with me set of a few smokies and then through them in a big tub of water. First time i did it i struck the flare and when i through it, i still had a hold of the string and flint. The flare did the whole arc under my crutch and nearly nearly burnt my but. Well two other mates also made the same silly mistake straight up. Lesson learnt and thank god it was on land, not on a boat on the water.

I actually believe it should be a part of your skippers ticket, to set of a flare..

I agree about knowing how to set off flares before you need to, both for safety and also because you only have a couple of flares to use when you need them and if you stuff up a couple on your learning curve it will reduce your chances of rescue. I always keep my up to date flares and the previous out of date set as extras on the boat, the rules are you must have one set in date but there is nothing wrong with keeping older flares on board as long as they are in good condition. The oldest flares become part of a new years ritual for the teenage kids at a large gathering out on acreage around the bonfire, bit reminiscent of Lord of the Flies but good fun, even for Piggie.

In regards to training, colleges in most states offer the Elements of Shipboard Safety course which goes through using fire extinguishers, using flares, abandon ship; including deploying and climbing into a life raft (not that easy) and other safety training aspects. I did it as part of my coxswains course but anyone can do the safety component and as mentioned in previous posts on LHI and others it's better to know how to do that sort of stuff before you need it.

I'm not going to let them off Chris. Things have a tendancy to catch fire where I live... Been involved in a couple of big fires and I don't want to be the cause of one. I will probably keep them for the time being.

Is there somewhere in Sydney to dispose of them?

Chris6791 said..
Sorry to be the wowser but please don't go bush and set off your flares, especially the rocket ones, a bucketload of time is wasted by emergency services chasing around flare sightings and it's a pain in the arse. If your going to do it anyway let your local coppers know, just call it a flare demonstration, they'll appreciate the heads up

Another option is to donate them to your local sea rescue, they can still be used for flare demos as well.

That is true Chris and I don,t think your being a wowser, I suppose because I live in the country, Iv'e always been a bit spoiled when it comes to things like this and knowing all the local farmers, most are your local SES and fire brigade, you don't end up wasting emergency resources . Come winter, standing in the middle of a 1000ha green paddock with a flare or a WW2 flame thrower ,is really a non issue. As long as you don't hurt anyone or damage any property, I think its a good idea to burn your old flares if just for practice, I have had old flares that wont even light,, and I was relying on them as backups,
On no account would I encourage some one to light a flare in bushland rain, hail or shine,, or launch a rocket where it is going to cause concern.

HG02 said..
Question
Are they dangerous after the expiry date at all?
If there not and you replace them as per the expiry date ,could you not keep them on board in another location as emergency spares?

Define dangerous! Early in 1970 I was doing a survival course out in the sticks near here with 3 others in an area that has been used for this purpose for some time. Wearing immersion suits and sleeping in one man inflatable dinghies, but that's another story! Mate was down in this gully and came across a red flare with an expiry date in the early 1940's. Naturally he pulled the ring. He was down in this gully with no wind and a few trees and rocks etc. The red smoke filled up the whole area and he suddenly found he could not breath and came running up the hill with no visibility so yes they are still dangerous.
I have 25 years worth of rocket flares downstairs in a steel cupboard. I bet they still work.

With the smoke flares we are required to carry in NSW I keep the out of date ones onboard still. The current ones are to prevent fines.

HG02 said..
Question
Are they dangerous after the expiry date at all?
If there not and you replace them as per the expiry date ,could you not keep them on board in another location as emergency spares?

The compounds in the flares are hygroscopic so they absorb moisture over a period of time. This can lead to the compound swelling and going crumbly . If you get it to light it may not burn too well most likely spluttering and fissing. A danger may arise if the old flare is dried out and moisture is removed.The compound may be cracked or may have debonded from the tube body that inhibits the burn. So what this means is normally your flare is an end burner like a cigarette, but if it has a crack through the compound or is debonded from the case, you may get more surface area of the compound burning than is meant to. This could start things getting real hot and it may start producing thrust ejecting still burning particles or pieces of the compound in an erosive style burn.

Charriot said..
Currently central QLD Coast Guard encouraging keep out of date flares, as a spare and used them first.
Othewise Coast Guard is disposal point for Epirb's and flares.
Most flares are used for public safe boating training . Even long out of date flares works well, never recall any misbehaving.

I was led to believe that in QLD you are not aloud to carry out of date flares? Because they are deemed out of date fireworks

Obviously i was told wrong..

If you don't have the room or want to keep them as "additional" onboard, why out contact your local sailing club .... they do run flare nights/training so people can actually let on off in safe environment.

But please, don't just go bush, or worse go out to sea and let them off .... I have spent far too many hours/days/weeks chasing flare sighting and "missing" boats only to find them (not the boats but the di**heads in charge of the boats) safe and sound at the bar and thinking it is funny to have people out there searching them

Morons

Just my opinion.

Bruski068 said..
I have always disposed of my expired flares out at sea, however before doing so I let VMR and other boats in the area know what I'm doing and also when I have finished disposing of them, this is just common sense and common courtesy, as no one with half a brain wants to cry wolf, unfortunately not everyone who owns a boat has half a brain, or sense, common or otherwise

This is not a good idea. Not everybody is involved with the VMR and most commercial operators will not be in communication with them. They will see a flare and immediately contact the rescue people [the real ones] and speed off to the flare site to effect assistance. Often at great expense to their company. Or as most commonly happens, a spectator on the cliffs calls the police. If you want to get rid of old flares at sea just drop them over the side.

legistration should have been legislation, sometimes my mind gets ahead of my typing skills