Disposable vapes are flooding the environment with plastic waste and creating an eyesore
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Three fires broke out at the Grundon waste disposal plant near London’s Heathrow Airport in the past six months. In each case, the chief suspects were disposable vaping devices containing lithium batteries.
Owen George, who leads recycling for Grundon, said the volume of discarded vapes has soared over the past two years and poses a growing risk because the small batteries “can catch fire or pollute the other recycling".
The fires are just one consequence of the popularity of disposable vapes. The brightly colored e-cigarettes are also flooding the environment with plastic waste, creating an eyesore in parks and across city centres. And while health authorities say vaping helps smokers kick the habit, some teachers have warned that it’s setting a whole new generation of students on the path to nicotine addiction.
Vapes heat liquids to create an inhalable mist, providing a nicotine hit without at least some of the harmful health effects of burning tobacco. While single-use e-cigarettes can be recycled, they require special treatment and are frequently tossed in the bin or into the gutter, with the lithium still inside. The metal is an essential material in rechargeable batteries that power everything from mobile phones to electric cars.
Disposable vapes have been on the market for years, but exploded in popularity during 2021 and 2022. By last summer, festivals, beer gardens and parks were filled with clouds of fruity smoke, with names such as Cotton Candy, Peach Ice, and Bubblegum. As more entrants came to market, often offering vapes for €5 or €6 a pop, sales soared, leading to a corresponding increase in waste.
Material Focus, a non-profit organisation funded by fees collected from electrical manufacturers who fail to meet annual recycling targets, estimates that 1.3 million disposable vapes are binned weekly in Britain, or about two every second. The group says that 90% of the smaller vape and vape juice producers in the country are failing to comply with environmental regulations.
The vaping industry, which includes big cigarette makers such as Philip Morris International Inc., is under pressure to reduce waste. PMI, the maker of Marlboros, is offering free vapes to customers who return products for recycling.
The company sends the used e-cigarettes to recycling centers in Europe — where the raw materials are re-purposed — but it concedes that less than half of users are returning their devices. In Britain, it’s targeting 20% to 25% compliance.
“It’s going to be an education process initially because consumers are not used to recycling a daily-use product,” Ashok Ram Mohan, president of eVapor at PMI in Lausanne, Switzerland, said in an interview.
Each day, Eric Torrington picks up a blue Ikea bag and heads out for a walk around his home in Dursley, Gloucester. On a regular jaunt, the semi-retired engineer will return home with at least five disposable vapes found on the roadside or around industrial parks.
The past few months have been particularly fruitful — Torrington, 62, now has more than 500 disposable vapes in his garden, waiting to be dismantled and recycled. “I’m finding loads of Lost Mary’s at the moment, which is a particularly popular brand,” he said.
In Buckinghamshire, bus driver Richard Walker runs a litter-picking group in his spare time — often out both days at the weekend and twice during the week. The group, which was started four years ago by his daughter Abigail, now 18, collected almost 500 disposable vapes last month.
Walker, 45, takes as many of the vapes as he can back to shops to recycle. “We find most of them around schools and colleges,” he said.
Removed over fifty of these disposable ‘I Vape Great’ vapes from the river this morning. No doubt thousands are discarded into the environment daily. @ivgeliquids #cork pic.twitter.com/kgmfLDBSga
— Save Our Bride Otters (@savebrideotters) July 22, 2022
In Cork, Chris Moody who heads the Save Our Bride Otters campaign and who regularly cleans sections of the River Bride, said he finds them in the River Bride as well as in drain culverts and in one incident, found 50 single-use vape products that were discarded into the river.
He has also called for disposable vapes to be banned: "I really think disposable vapes should be banned outright. There are too many of them being discarded into the environment. They shouldn’t be put in the bin either. The EPA says retailers are obliged to take them back for recycling but I would be very curious to see if they are returned in any significant number. There are many parts to each device — lithium battery, plastic parts, aluminium case, electronic circuitry and a small tank with vaping fluid. There is quite a bit of effort (and cost I would think) to disassemble each and every returned device.
"Are the vapes that are sent for recycling in Ireland actually recycled or just shipped off somewhere else (somewhere with less environmental protections perhaps) to become someone else’s problem?"
I learned for myself that single use vapes contain lithium iron batteries, electronics, metals and plastics. They are used briefly and then thrown away. @greenparty_ie #circulareconomy pic.twitter.com/jQzJFN5vE6
— Ossian Smyth (@smytho) October 17, 2022
Single-use vapes are "making the world a worse place", Minister of State Ossian Smyth has previously said, adding that he wants them banned. The Minister of State with responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy said the single-use products are very wasteful and that they could be banned under the Circular Economy Act or the single-use plastic directive.
Dr Paul Kavanagh, HSE Public Health Medicine Lead with the Tobacco Free Ireland Programme, has said: “People often ask us what we think about using an e-cigarette or vaping as a way to help them stop smoking. Our advice is that the best thing you can do for your health is not to smoke or vape. There is no certainty at this point that e-cigarettes support people to quit and we have questions about their safety profile. If someone is wondering about quitting with an e-cigarette or vape, the best advice I would offer is that they would discuss the option of using licensed NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) to help with cravings and nicotine withdrawal with stop smoking advisor.”
Fine Gael Health spokesman, Colm Burke, has noted in 2022 that: "E-cigarettes are also highly addictive, with nicotine being the primary agent in many products. Vaping is gaining popularity across the country, with packaging and flavours appealing to young people in particular. For the first time in 25 years, after falling from 41% to 13%, the smoking rate amongst our 15-16 year olds is now increasing. 39% of this age group have used e-cigarettes, while over 15% are regular users."
The Minister confirmed that under the new proposals, the sale of e-cigarettes (and related nicotine-inhaling products) will be prohibited from self-service vending machines, from temporary or mobile premises, and at places or events for children. In addition, advertisements for e-cigarettes will be prohibited on public transport, in cinemas and near schools.
The proposals will be incorporated into the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill which is currently being drafted.
Specsavers has also commented on the health impacts of vaping: "Research indicates that vapour from e-cigarettes can cause irritation and lead to dry eye syndrome."
Innards of the disposable vapes pictured in earlier tweet. Including lithium-ion battery. I find these in the river often. Blaming the end user (though justified) doesn’t solve the problem. #vapes pic.twitter.com/5o31xNSr1h
— Save Our Bride Otters (@savebrideotters) February 24, 2023
Meanwhile, Catherine Gemmell, Scotland conservation officer at the Marine Conservation Society, said disposable vapes are not only contributing to plastic pollution but are also leaking toxic chemicals into the sea: “Disposable options are a step backward when we need to be moving toward a society of reuse."
— Bloomberg