Back when I was a child, I would wrap them up in news paper light it and drop it in the burn can. But we all know that is NOT the way to dispose of them now.
I would pull the lead with a pair of pliers, dump the powder, soak the case in water for a day or so then pich it in the recycle bin.
That reminds me of when my sister and I would go target practicing in high school (we were both on the marksmanship club). We were out in about 6 inches of snow one time, freezing. So we decided to build a camp fire to keep warm while we were shooting.
We didn't have a match, but I had a box of 12ga. shells in the car. So I cut the cases off just above the brass, dumped the powder in our unlit fire, and touched it off with the cigarette lighter from my car. It worked great, until we (not having any use for them) through the 25 pieces of primed brass in the fire.
OOPS! We took cover behind the car while they popped and launched out of the fire in any random direction they chose. I doubt they had enough force behind them to do any serious harm, but they were loud enough when they were bouncing off my car, to scare the heck out of us.
