How Do You Dispose & Recycle Your Old Gas Grill?

Use these guidelines to prepare your old gas grill before sending it for recycling or proper disposal.

Proper care and maintenance of your gas grill’s parts will keep it running for a long time, however, even the most reliable grills will eventually break down, which nobody wants.

When you need to get rid of your old grill, we strongly recommend you don’t leave it at the curb. Use green options for gas grill disposal like recycling, donating, and upcycling.

Make sure to apply a little elbow grease and deep clean your gas grill thoroughly before you take it to a recycling center for proper disposal. But that’s not all, follow the guidelines below to dismantle a grill to scrap and recycle parts of the BBQ or old grill.

Does Goodwill Take Gas Grills?

If you’re thinking about getting rid of a gas grill by donating it, ask your local charity if they accept grills. For example, Goodwill doesn’t accept most grills unless they’re really clean, free of fuel, and in great condition.

How to Prepare Your Old Gas Grill for Recycling

While these are practical general guidelines for proper BBQ grill disposal and preparing your old gas grill for recycling or disposal, it is strongly recommended to hire a professional to safely dispose of your grill for you to make sure you recycle the old gas grill properly.

⚠️ Be extremely careful! Both the gas and flame are highly dangerous. Never turn the knob on full blast or use a large flame to light the grill.

Before you can throw away grills or even move on to propane tank disposal and recycling, you’ll need to make sure the tank is completely emptied of any gas.

Check if the propane tank is empty. If your old gas grill still works, turn the burner knob on your gas grill. You should then be able to smell the gas.

Check if the grill lights when you light a match by the burner. If the grill doesn’t ignite right away or you can’t smell the gas, DO NOT continue trying to light it. Your old propane tank may still be releasing gas and just not getting to the burner. Continuing to turn the knob and light a match is a blazing catastrophe waiting to happen.

⚠️ WARNING: Do not try to empty a propane tank by turning the valve and letting the gas escape. This is extremely dangerous and will cause the area to become highly flammable.

Optional: The safest way to do make sure your propane tank is properly discharged is to have this step performed by a professional. Check for highly rated propane dealers in your area by doing a Google search or checking the Yellow Pages.

Before taking your propane tank to have it emptied, you’ll need to safely remove it from your old grill. To do this, cap the lines, turn off the tank valve and loosen the bolts that attach the propane tank to the grill.

If you don’t have a propane dealer in your area who offers these services, you can check with your local fire department, gas company, or hazardous waste specialists.

Never store a propane tank indoors. This dangerous and is even illegal in many areas.

Propane tanks are technically considered hazardous waste. Check with your local government for specific laws in your area before disposing of an old propane tank.

Some states and municipalities have strict regulations about proper propane tank disposal. These laws can include rules about where you can store used or unused tanks, such as whether you can put them in your garage, under your porch, or in your shed.

Propane tanks can usually be reused through propane tank exchange programs. If you are in need of propane tank disposal, you can take it to a propane gas dealer. A scrap metal recycler cannot safely perform propane tank disposal, due to residual gas in the empty tank.

Since rubber cannot be recycled, cut the hose from the tank connector and the grill burners then dispose of it in the regular trash collection.

If the gas control knobs are made of black plastic, they can likely be recycled. Otherwise, they will need to be thrown away, even if they appear to be made of metal.

Casters should be thrown away with your regular garbage. Usually, plastic wheels can be recycled with other recyclable plastics.

Any electronics such as ignition wires and electric controllers, as well as any batteries, will have to be disposed of with regular household electronics. Many cities hold free e-waste recycling drop-off events. Check your community papers and message boards to find out when and where they will be held in your area.

Since grills are made mostly of metal, they can easily be recycled as scrap. The recycled scrap metal can then be reused in the production of any number of items containing the same type of metal. Recycling your old gas grill is a great way to help cut down on landfill waste.

However, you’ll have to haul it to a facility yourself, and the average scrap value of grills is around $5, with the range maxing out at around $10. Hence, you’ll spend more time hauling it for scrapping than it’s worth. But you can save yourself the work by booking a grill disposal pickup with an eco-friendly, affordable junk removal company.

Gas valves can be removed and recycled as scrap metal since they are usually made of brass or aluminum.

The body of your old gas grill made up mostly of recyclable metals such as steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. These metals can be recycled as scrap metal and then melted down and used in the construction of new products and materials.

Just like with the grill body, your old gas grill’s lid can likely be recycled as scrap metal if it is made of aluminum, steel, or stainless steel.

If the handles on the lid of your old gas grill are made of plastic that does not have the recycle logo on it, they will need to be thrown away with the regular trash. Otherwise, they can be recycled with other recyclable plastics.

Side shelves made of plastic must have the recycle logo imprinted on them to be recycled. Otherwise, they will need to be thrown away. If your old grill’s shelves are made of metal, they can be recycled as scrap.

As you can see, figuring out how to dispose of an old grill is time-consuming. Leaving it by a dumpster or on the curb might be a tempting solution, but most garbage services won’t pick up bulky items and you can expect a citation with a heavy fine for not disposing of it properly.

If you’re getting rid of your old grill yourself, contact your local scrap salvage or recycling facility to check if they will accept your old grill. If you’d like to skip having to disassemble your grill before dropping it off, book a pickup from LoadUp to have experts do it all for you.

Skip the frustration of disposing of your old gas grill by hiring professional junk pickup services. LoadUp offers on-demand junk removal at upfront prices 20% – 30% lower than most other junk haulers. No on-site estimate needed.

♻️3,000,000 Diverted Pounds. We’re proud of the amount of junk we’ve kept out of landfills with Loaders who donate or recycle when possible to keep old grills and other items out of landfills.

Can LoadUp pickup my old grill from my back porch or deck?

LoadUp also offers pickups nationwide as soon as the next day and can pick up your old gas grill from the curb so you don’t have to wait around for them to get rid of your old grill!

All of LoadUp’s contracted pickup and disposal professionals are fully background-checked and are insured for up to $1 million. Once your removal team is on the way, you get real-time tracking via text message. After your pickup is completed, you’ll receive an email with a link to rate and review their services.

Saying Goodbye to Your Old Grill

While it may be hard to say “goodbye” to your old grill, remember that LoadUp can make it a lot less painful!

Since you’re getting rid of your old gas grill, if you’re in the market for a new one, check out our article on How to Buy the Perfect Grill.

Related Articles from the Trash Talk Blog:

• Your Guide to Buying a New Grill
• The Guide to Decluttering Your Kitchen
• What Can’t Be Recycled in Your Curbside Recycling Bin?
• Everything You Need to Know About Recycling Old Lawn Mowers