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Nonprofit stewardship group outlines statewide EPR collection for small gas cylinders
Summary
The Cylinder Collective, formed after 2022 EPR legislation, told the council it will run a statewide, no-cost collection system for residential small cylinders beginning Oct. 1, 2025; it seeks municipal partners for transfer-station collection and outreach.
Kim O’Rourke, State Program Coordinator for the Cylinder Collective, briefed the council on an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) stewardship program for small gas cylinders created by 2022 state legislation and amended in 2024.
The Cylinder Collective is an industry-run nonprofit that focuses on smaller residential cylinders — camping and portable grilling cylinders, handheld torches, and portable helium canisters — and aims to expand pilot collections currently at two state campgrounds. O’Rourke said the stewardship plan has been approved by DEEP and the Cylinder Collective intends to hire vendors for collection and processing statewide.
Key program details provided by O’Rourke: - Program start date: Oct. 1, 2025. - Target materials: residential nonrefillable and refillable cylinders from approximately 4-ounce butane up to just under 20-pound barbecue tanks (program excludes industrial/institutional cylinders and certain gases such as oxygen or refrigerants). - Cost to residents: none. O’Rourke said the Cylinder Collective will pay collection and processing costs and provide storage containers and signage. - Municipal responsibilities: collection sites must comply with permits, provide monitored collection locations and fencing where required by DEEP’s transfer-station permits.
O’Rourke said roughly 85–90% of producers that sell cylinders in Connecticut had signed stewardship agreements. She acknowledged there are multiple stewardship organizations (the Cylinder Collective, PGANE, SodaStream and one other plan under review) and sought to coordinate operations so towns are not overwhelmed by overlapping programs.
Council members raised logistical questions about transfer-station handling, required permits, fencing and whether household hazardous waste events would remain appropriate collection venues. O’Rourke said the stewardship organization will provide a municipal toolkit, outreach materials, signage and a searchable collection-locations tool on its website.
The Cylinder Collective asked interested transfer stations to contact the program to be considered for the vendor contracts being procured. The council did not vote on participation; O’Rourke said she would follow up individually with towns and that staff would send the slide deck and contact information to members.
