The West Coast and Florida have a system where they are turned in to the local USCG Station, but alas we do not. So here is a few suggestions I found:
1.(Preferred method): Contact your local fire department, sanitation department or environmental protection department and determine your local hazardous waste material disposal rules. Then follow the rules.
2. Contact your local Coast Guard Auxiliary and/or United States Power Squadron unit and see if they would like to have some old flares for training purposes. The Auxiliary and the Power Squadron teach boating courses year-round, and many of them sponsor (after receiving permission from the Coast Guard) pyrotechnic training days for the public.
The Auxiliary has many more of these days for their members, since those members who want to qualify in the Boat Crew and Coxswain on-the-water missions need to know how to use flares and other pyrotechnical devices.
Actually learning how to use pyrothecnics is a very important experience. Knowing how to ignite them, seeing how they burn, and how the slag drops is important information. Pyrotechnics are dangerous! A good reason to take a safe boating course and a better reason for possibly joining the Auxiliary!
However, there is a limit to both the Auxiliary and the Power Squadron’s need for flares, and other pyrotechnic devices. Neither organization could possibly use all the manufactured devices that have fallen outside the Coast Guard legal standards.
To learn more about what to do during a boating emergency, why not take a boating safety course! The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary has a variety of boating courses geared for all levels of boating knowledge. You can contact your local Auxiliary Flotilla by either calling your local Coast Guard unit or visiting the Coast Guard on the web at
http://www.uscg.mil/default.asp or the Coast Guard Auxiliary at
http://www.cgaux.org I will use my expired hand held flares in training for myself and Mate ((while on land in controlled area) and note the training in my log.
