Are aerosol cans recyclable?

It depends

Only if completely empty, and only where your programme accepts them. Anything with product or pressure left takes it to household hazardous waste instead. Never puncture or crush a can to empty it.

What you need to do

Test it: nothing sprays, no hiss, and no liquid sloshing when shaken
NEVER puncture a can to empty or depressurise it — it can rupture and injure you
Do not crush it
Leave the plastic cap off and bin it separately; the nozzle can stay on
If in any doubt at all, treat it as hazardous waste rather than recycling

Why the answer isn't simple

Three different questions hide inside "is this recyclable?" — and most pages only answer one of them.

Is the material recyclable? yes

What the stuff is made of, in principle.

The can itself is steel or aluminium — both are valuable, endlessly recyclable, and among the materials facilities most want. Once genuinely empty, an aerosol can is just a metal container. The complication has never been the metal; it is what may still be inside it.

Source: Can Manufacturers Institute — aerosol and other non-food cans

Will a sorting facility recover it? partial

What actually happens on the line.

A can with propellant still in it is a pressure vessel travelling into machinery that crushes and bales. Regulators treat part-full aerosols as hazardous waste for this reason — the risk is fire or a rupture in the baler, and the residue may be flammable or toxic in its own right. Empty cans carry none of that and sort with other metal without incident. The entire difficulty sits in telling the two apart.

Source: Washington State Department of Ecology — aerosol cans

Will your curbside program take it? varies

Local policy, which is where answers diverge.

Acceptance is a long way from universal — well under half of US households live where empty aerosols go in the curbside bin, because a programme needs to be confident it can handle the occasional part-full can that slips through. Where they are accepted, it is empty cans only, every time.

Source: Montgomery County, PA — aerosols

Where else it can go

Household hazardous waste

The right destination for anything not completely empty. Most counties run collection days or a permanent drop-off site, and they will take part-full cans of paint, solvent, pesticide and the rest.

Transport them upright and do not let them get hot in a car.

Scrap metal yard

Where curbside will not take empty cans, a scrap yard usually will.

Empty only.

Use it up

The simplest fix. A can sprayed until nothing comes out is a recyclable metal container rather than a hazardous waste problem.

Common mistakes

Puncturing cans to 'make them safe' — this is the dangerous thing, not the safe one
Recycling a can that still sloshes, which puts a pressurised container into a baler
Assuming spray paint and pesticide cans follow the same rules as an empty deodorant can; residue matters as much as pressure