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So that's the case - I have a camp stove and a bottle of liquid fuel for it (gas? benzine? petrol? ah, whatever). Hike is over and I have to get on a plane - thus I have to get rid of this fuel. How do I do it? Or maybe there's no way to do it right and I've got myself a problem?

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    The nicest option would be to try to give it to someone heading out whose first night is at the same place as your last.
    – Chris H
    Jan 23, 2016 at 20:23
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    Especially, do not call it "benzine" in an english speaking country when trying to get rid of it - "benzene" is not petrol in english, but what you would know as "benzol" (бензол). You might be facing strange questions about how the heck you even got hold of it, and why you are carrying it around.
    – rackandboneman
    Jan 23, 2016 at 20:24
  • Yeah, there's a nice discussion about it at ell.stackexchange.com/questions/8299/…
    – Usurer
    Jan 29, 2016 at 9:25
  • A while ago I have created a community article here on TGO which tries to list all the different camping fuels with their respective names in various languages and geographies: outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/19151/…
    – fgysin
    Aug 10, 2020 at 8:08

4 Answers 4

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While writing the question, I've figured out an answer. I just burn the fuel in the stove.

Maybe this little knowledge would be helpful.

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    Nobody to give it away to? Shame to just burn it for the sake of getting rid of it..
    – Broots Waymb
    Jan 22, 2016 at 16:56
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    You can do this, but it's wasteful.
    – Reid
    Jan 22, 2016 at 21:32
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    It's wasteful, but so is nearly everything. Burning a small quantity of leftover fuel pales in comparison to flying - a 1500km flight will burn around 30 liters of fuel, so burning half a liter of leftover fuel is only about 1.6% of the fuel he'll burn on his way home. Or is roughly equivalent to what a car will burn while driving 6km - so when he gets home, if he does a 6km walk or bike ride to run an errand instead of driving there, he'll have "repaid" the waste.
    – Johnny
    Jan 23, 2016 at 6:45
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    it's be easier to just use it to start a campfire. We usually just burnt off our unused fuel in the fire. Fun stuff. Just don't burn down the forrest.
    – ShemSeger
    Jan 23, 2016 at 18:17
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    @insane sorry, I wasn't clear in my comment, the fuel burm number I gave was per passenger, not for the entire plane. It would be an efficient plane indeed that could fly 1500km on just 30 liters of fuel!
    – Johnny
    Jan 24, 2016 at 6:32
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I was recently in Mexico and bought some unleaded gas at a gas station as stove fuel. I gave the unused fuel away to a taxi driver to put in his car.

I suspect the same thing would work fine with the fuels sold as "white gas" or "camp fuel." I've heard conflicting information about exactly how this stuff is formulated, and for all I know it depends on the manufacturer. But what everyone seems to agree on is that it's extremely similar to unleaded gas. Given the similarity, if a car owner has 20 or 30 liters of gasoline in their tank, I don't think it will hurt anything to add a half liter of white gas.

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    I'd be interested in seeing an opinion on that over at mechanics.stackexchange.com. I'm not a car guy, so I can't weigh in on it.
    – Broots Waymb
    Jan 22, 2016 at 16:56
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    White gas is simply unleaded gasoline without the usual automotive additives. So yes, just put it in your gas tank.
    – Reid
    Jan 22, 2016 at 21:33
  • Here's an article from Climbing.com about using white fuel when you run out of gas in your car. climbing.com/news/running-out-of-gas
    – furtive
    Jan 25, 2016 at 5:06
  • White gas has an octane rating of 50 to 55, according to Wikipedia. It's probably fine to add to the gasoline for most cars as long as the proportion is low. I wouldn't want to do what those guys in the climbing.com article did, which was to put white gas in the tank after the car ran out of fuel, except in an emergency.
    – rclocher3
    Aug 26, 2020 at 14:50
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Here are a few methods

  • If you have a lawnmower or weed eater you can dilute your gas by about 5% to 10% with it and burn it off that way, even if the fuel is 'bad'.

  • Additionally, many fire departments will accept all manner of fuel, good or bad, and use it for backburning areas preparing for the summer fire season.

  • Some auto parts stores will accept fuel for disposal. Almost all will accept old engine oil. I suggest you call an auto parts store in your area as the acceptance of fuel is regional depending on what government services there are to pick up the fuel. Oil is recycled and all auto stores accept to the best of my knowledge.

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    A lot of this answer is written as if the person was trying to dispose of the fuel back at home, but the question states that they need to dispose of it because they can't take it on a plane when they go home (a very common situation). If you were back at home with your fuel, you could just pour it back into the can you bought it in.
    – user2169
    Jan 22, 2016 at 19:15
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    You can't stop by an auto parts store or a fire house on the way to the airport? I'm not sure I agree with that.
    – Citizen
    Jan 22, 2016 at 19:18
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What's the problem? The guy at the airport will take it from you. Proper legal disposal is now his business.

There might be a kiosk for dropping items you forgot to leave at home, before dealing with people.

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    I would be worried that you have to give away the bottle too. When I informed myself about transporting stoves with planes (internationally) the information I got was that theoretically nothing can smell of gasoline, otherwise it may be confiscated. That may not be enforced everywhere, but you need to be aware of that risk.
    – imsodin
    Jan 23, 2016 at 10:31
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    it maybe against the law to take flammable liquids in to the local airport, you may find "his job" is now to place you into jail.
    – James Jenkins
    Jan 23, 2016 at 11:37
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    Why would you want to keep the bottle it came in? And if I understand the comment correctly then even if you dumped it or used it up then you could still not take it onnthe plane anyway.
    – JDługosz
    Jan 23, 2016 at 13:21
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    @JDlugosz the contaminated bottle may be part of the stove (e.g. my MSR; the bottle could be filled from a car fuel can).
    – Chris H
    Jan 23, 2016 at 20:21
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    @JDługosz the can could be emptied and aired ahead of time. You would be at risk of losing the bottle because of a lingering smell if they opened it, but wouldn't be carrying a bottle of petrol.
    – Chris H
    Jan 27, 2016 at 14:57

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