The cylinders being dumped across the city despite the risks they pose

They’re big, metallic, often wrapped in colourful plastic packaging and, increasingly, they’re being dumped on the side of the road or left leaning on public bins.

Tens of thousands of nitrous oxide canisters are being illegally disposed of around Melbourne as environmental and health experts warn of mounting risks.

While officially a tool used to aerate cream, the gas cylinders are more commonly used recreationally as a party drug known as “nangs”.

While the smaller silver cream chargers are better recognised, the larger three-kilogram canisters are becoming more and more popular. However, drug advocacy experts say they carry a higher risk because they hold more doses, and therefore run the risk of increased use.

The disposal of the canisters is also a difficult process. Each one is highly pressurised and cannot be thrown out in household or public bins due to the risk of explosion.

E-waste recycling service ReSource in Derrimut is one of the few places equipped to handle the canisters in Victoria. Unlike a regular facility, its specialised machinery is strong enough to absorb potential explosions that come from piercing the pressurised canisters.

“We’ll stockpile them until we’ve got about 10 to 15 tonnes … We then run a specialised batch process where we process the canisters … we separate the plastics, the wrappers, the brass and the steel,” said ReSource co-founder Troy Rowe. Workers repeat this process until the waste is eventually transformed into a valuable recycled metal.

Since it began offering the service in July 2025, the facility has processed more than 68.5 tonnes of waste – about 22,800 individual large canisters.

Of the council areas that ReSource currently services, the facility has accepted the most waste from the Brimbank and the City of Melbourne areas. Rowe, who lives in Brimbank, said he often saw the dumped canisters near his home.

“We see them almost every weekend at this playground, which would be no more than a couple of hundred meters from our house.”

Lisa Field, a St Albans resident who volunteers with the Brimbank Sustainability and Climate Action group, was stunned by the number of canisters she had encountered in her community during local clean-up events in recent years.

“I was shocked with the amount I’ve seen. Litter is a concern in Brimbank, but particularly [the canisters] because of the social harm … it must be more regulated,” Field said, adding, “I’m concerned about the number.”

Rules differ between councils, but canisters generally must be dropped off at a designated paid recycling facility.

During a February council meeting, Brimbank Mayor Virginia Tachos responded to a public question regarding illegal canister dumping by saying there had been a “sharp increase”, and that it posed a problem in the community.

“Nitrous oxide canisters should never be left in public places or placed in household bins. We strongly encourage residents to dispose of them responsibly by taking them to an appropriate recycling facility,” a Brimbank City Council spokesperson said.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson said the council recovered almost 50,000 canisters each year. Penalties for incorrect disposal start from $814 and can top $12,000.

“Council is advocating for a shared cross-agency response to nitrous oxide misuse, recognising it as both a waste management and public health issue,” the spokesperson said.

Australian Council of Recycling CEO Suzanne Toumbourou said the disposal system would be improved if manufacturers were required to bear costs associated with disposal. She noted the success of Victoria’s container deposit scheme, under which beverage companies fund refund and operating costs.

“The cost for disposing of those [canisters] should actually be borne by those who benefit from selling them,” Toumbourou said. “We need to see better-designed [systems] … and we need to see better-regulated ones too.”

Along with the environmental impact of nitrous oxide canisters, there is also continued concern over the risks associated with their recreational use. Emma Hutchinson, community programs manager with the Youth Support and Advocacy Service in Sunshine, said she was aware of more people who had been using nitrous oxide – probably due to its low cost and ease of access.

Hutchinson said there were also more people experiencing neurological consequences of nitrous oxide use, including walking issues or numbness in their extremities.

“We were [previously] seeing young people … engaging sporadically in that nitrous oxide use. It’s becoming more of a daily thing,” she said.

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