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My wife and I have a bunch of random broken things from our previous lives that we're trying to get rid of correctly. One of them is a few left over SodaStream canisters.
Many recycling centres (in NSW at least) don't seem to take on gas canisters.
Is there a place in Australia (preferably in Sydney) that would recycle these or dispose of them correctly?
SodaStream gas cylinders don't have anything in them except carbon dioxide. One way or the other that's going into the atmosphere — it's not getting reclaimed.
Just bleed the CO₂ out of the top of the cylinder by pushing it down against a concrete paver or something hard and rough. Then, when it's empty, unscrew the valve or drive a large nail through the side of it so it can't be re-pressurised. From that point on it's nothing but harmless scrap metal — put it in your recycle bin.
Once-upon-a-time you could get a refund for these things (the princely sum of $1), but I believe they shut that program down about four years ago. You can still return them at any store on this page (filtered by "Gas Exchange"), if any are conveniently local.
Having said all that, the cylinders are solidly built and are tested to 250 bar. If you're a bit of a hacker you can empty it, swap out the valve, and do some cool things with it at much lower pressures (e.g. brew beer, nerf gun, spud launcher, toroidal vortex air cannon). Those cylinders really are worth the tens of dollars you paid for them.
According to Soda Stream's website, the appropriate place to return them is to a retailer that participates in their 'canister swap' program:
If you are no longer going to use your SodaStream, you can return your empty carbonating cylinder(s) to one of your local retailers (without exchanging it for a full cylinder). There is no deposit to return as there is no deposit when a cylinder is purchased. When you buy a SodaStream cylinder you pay for the CO2 in the cylinder along with a license to use the cylinder.
They go on to mention that you are entitled to a return fee of $1.00 per cylinder, and if the retailer doesn't want to reimburse you, to contact SodaStream's customer care to get a prepaid shipping label to send your cylinders directly to them.
