How to Dispose of an Old Liferaft?

We accept old life rafts, that have passed their expiry date, are uneconomical to service or are simply too old to service. 

WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR OLD RAFT? 

• We recycle your old life-raft by using it on a Sea Survival Training Course. 
• We dispose of the dangerous items inside (such as the expired flares/pyrotechnics).
• We donate some of the other contents to Sea Cadets and similar organisations.
• We recycle the CO2 cylinder.
• We donate the canopy to an up-cycling project who makes bags.
• We donate the rubber to an up-cycling project who also makes bags and purses.

WHAT IS THE COST OF DISPOSING OF A LIFERAFT? 

We do not charge for disposing of your raft, we recover our costs by recycling it on a training course. No money changes hands. You will however have to get your raft to us at SO31 4RA. 

WHICH RAFTS CAN BE DISPOSED OF / RECYCLED WITH LIFERAFT.UK? 

We accept un-inflated (still packed) canister or valise stowed rafts. We will not accept life rafts that have been opened/fired/inflated or where the container/packing looks unsafe. 

Due to a shortage of up-cycling facilities we are currently only accepting 8 person ISO rafts. We apologise that we can not take other rafts at this time.

CAN LIFERAFT.UK RECYCLE ALL LIFE RAFTS 

No, we regret that we cannot accept all life rafts. We are currently ONLY accepting 8-man ISO rafts . We cannot take ORC or SOLAS life rafts or life rafts that have been used/fired or become unpacked and we can only take marine life rafts (i.e. not from aircraft). 

WHY RECYCLE OLD LIFERAFTS? 

First and foremost, everything that can be recycled is a win for our planet. Beyond that, the disposal of old life rafts presents responsible owners with a multitude of problems, you cannot simply throw them away. They are a Class 9 Dangerous cargo; they contain a cylinder of compressed CO2, and they usually contain time expired pyrotechnics (TEPs). Ethically anything we can do to assist up-cycling instead of sending old rafts to landfill is good for the planet’s resources.