"Geez
All this talk of punctures and fuel canisters blowing up. And all I was mostly worried about was a little extra weight and the thought of having to throw the canisters out (not exactly environmentally friendly)."


eh?  just puncture the empty cannisters with a nail, and they are perfectly fine and legal to toss into the recycle bin - Brunton? I think, sells some kind of little spring loaded puncture tool for doing that if you can't handle a hammer and nail

even the steel 1# propane tanks can be safely recycled if you shoot a hole thru them (to evidence that it is empty) - any .22 will go right thru the thin steel bottle