When boater Drew Dimmick tried disposing of his expired incendiary flares a few weeks ago, he found that no one on the Island was willing to take them. But thanks to a new program at the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District set up this month, boaters can now safely dispose of their flares for a dollar a piece.

The U.S. Coast Guard requires that all boaters carry incendiary flares, which boaters can use in emergencies to alert authorities and other boaters that they’re in danger. When flares eventually expire and need to be replaced, they cannot be disposed of like normal garbage because they can leach a harmful chemical called perchlorate into the ground and water.

“You don’t want the stuff in groundwater. You don’t want it leaching. You don’t want people putting it into the trash or just throwing it in the woods,” Mr. Dimmick said. “You can’t set them off, because everybody will think you’re sinking and they’ll cue the helicopters.”

Mr. Dimmick, who lives year-round in Vineyard Haven and uses his boat for recreational fishing, said he attempted to take the flares to the refuse district’s hazardous waste collection day earlier this month, but was turned away.

He then called the Tisbury Fire Department for advice on what to do with his expired flares and said he was told the department was not aware of any way to dispose of them on the Island.

Mr. Dimmick said he was frustrated by the lack of clarity and feared the environmental impact of boaters potentially tossing out flares they didn’t know what to do with.

“Knowing human nature… you’ve got to make it easy for people to get rid of [waste] and with not a lot of guilt,” he said.

On Monday, refuse district manager Mark Davis told the Gazette his team will now accept dry flares that have been removed from their packaging. The flares will then be stored in a steel drum until enough are accumulated, at which point the state police will dispose of them with a controlled burn.

“It sounds like there was really no good way [to dispose of them],” Mr. Davis said.

Mr. Dimmick is glad Island boaters now have a way to get rid of flares that is safe, convenient and reliable.

“Otherwise, they’re gonna end up in the state forest,” he said.