Tidying up at home, we found some fireworks left there by the previous owner. This means that they're at least 5 years old. Given that they were on top of the kitchen cupboards, I suspect that they're not longer safe.

How should I dispose of them?

Edited to add: two rockets, "magic skies". Garden fireworks, rather than pro.

Probably the safest thing to do is to actually let them off in a controlled way. If they are Garden Fireworks the fuse should be long enough to give you at least 5 seconds to get away. If you would like some extra fuse just drop me a PM with your address and I'll put some in the post to you.

You can leave them soak in a bucket of water, but there is no way to know all the compound got wet. Which is why I say letting them off is the safest thing to do.

Fireworks don't have a use by date, so will be good to use for many many years if stored correctly.

Cheers

Cris

Couldn't you drop it off at a police or army post or something? I bet they have the necessary contacts to dispose of it safely.

I think that is a little over the top for Garden Fireworks, I think the army would look at you like you are nuts.

Cheers

Cris

Well, it's some form of gunpowder/explosives, so... (I'd probably light it myself too, to be honest )

Metal bucket + leftover fireworks + match


*edit*

+ large field with nothing flammable around

Well, yes, that is what I would do as a trained & insured "person with specialist knowledge" (see new UK regs). Certainly more fun

Cheers

Cris

I'm with Matt. Burn them. Safely.

Cris - does this mean you have a pyrotechnician cert? If so I may have a couple of queries...

I'm wanting to go for much bigger fire than this, but unsure of the regs:

http://youtu.be/usgavULOhsc - from about 2 mins onwards

(bonus points for translating this piece of nonsense :-)

There is no such thing as a firework/pyrotechnic licence here in the UK, that is a big myth. The BPA have done an excellent job of putting themselves in a place where people think you need to be a card holder to fire pyro professionally. But, there is no requirement for a certificate/licence at the moment. I don't carry a card, and I can buy upto 2 tonnes of 1.3G if I want

In order to own/fire 1.3G Category 4 pyrotecnics you have to be a "professional" (wording of current regs) and as of next year "a personal with specialist knowledge) (when 2010 regs come into force), you have to hold insurance and have a legal store for the articles you hold. There are strict rules on transportation which fall under ADR, but this doesn't apply for small quantities. We have decided to pay a consultancy group run by industry leaders to tick the boxes for us and avoid the BPA altogether.

Stage pyro is a whole different thing, the insurance of the venues may require accredited training, which is where the cert/licence myth comes from, it's not a legal requirement but mainly for insurance. We don't do stage pyro at the moment, our supplier does carry the stock but we have never played with it.

I can see what you are trying to do, but throwing sparks from a handheld moving object with other band members and a crowd is always going to be a problem. Whatever you use has to be for indoor use due to the smoke created, but it looks like you already know this to me.

How much bigger do you want to go ???

Cheers

Cris

Oh, yeah... that definitely needs bigger fire.

I'm not sure if the British Army is the same as the US Army, but we have a saying 'there is nothing worse than a bored Warrant Officer'. I've seen bored Warrants have pen flare fights, do ballets with helicopters (which was amazing impromptu choreography), etc. I'm sure they could find something to do with your fireworks, you probably just don't want to be near them when they get it.

This all sounds like overkill. Just set them on the ground and light the fuses.

Done. I just used an empty champagne bottle to support the stick and let them off. I waited until Nov 5th, though. They were quite good, actually. Surprisingly large bang for the size.