These have oil in them, so it's illegal and also harmful to the environment
to simply throw them in the trash. I know of one way; I don't know if its
the safest way, and i'm sure it's not the "appropriate" way to do it, but
this is what I would do:
If you can open them up with a pipe cutter, hacksaw, or even a drill, you
can drain the oil out. Pump it a few times and maybe even let it sit in a
bucket overnight. You can mix it with your used engine oil and dispose of
that properly. When the strut is drained, it's safe to throw away. I don't
know if it's worth the hassle to you or not. This is what we do with used
shocks and struts at the shop where I work because the metal recyclers won't
take them otherwise.

>From: David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US>
>Reply-To: David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Rear hatch struts -- disposal
>Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:46:21 -0400
>
>I just put new rear hatch struts on my Vanagon.  Hooray, no more getting
>bonked in the head!
>
>Anyway, I'm wondering how to dispose of the old ones safely.  They've
>obviously still got pressure in them; while they wouldn't hold up the
>hatch reliably, I can't compress them by hand.  The printing on both the
>new and old struts says to refer to the disposal instructions, which of
>course I don't have.
>
>
>David Brodbeck, N8SRE
>'86 Volvo 240DL wagon
>'82 VW Vanagon Westfalia Diesel

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