Single-use Vapes & Disposable E-cigarettes

🌱 What environmental problems are created?

Single-use vapes and disposable e-cigarettes cannot be reused or recharged. They “contain a finite amount of e-liquid" and once that runs out, the devices “are often discarded like cigarette butts”. Notably, “[e]ven reusable models […] often employ disposable e-liquid cartridges”. Vapes and e-cigarettes should be disposed at household recycling centers or the shops where they were purchased. Yet, it is estimated that “more than half […] are thrown directly in the bin”. According to Material Focus, “[u]p to 1.3 million single-use vapes are thrown away each week” in the UK alone. In the landfill or gutter, “hot, humid, and rainy weather [may erode] their internal and external components, leaking toxic metals and gases, such as lithium, lead, mercury, and bromine”.

🌱 What minerals are disposed?

Vapes and e-cigarettes “contain valuable materials such as lithium batteries and copper, as well as plastic”. If recycled properly, these materials “could have a valuable second life” in renewable energy technologies. “Each device contains about 0.15g of lithium in its battery”. According to the Financial Times, “[m]ore than 90 tonnes of lithium were used in the production of the $5bn worth of single-use vapes sold globally last year”. This amounts “to enough lithium to [produce] more than 11,000 electric vehicle batteries”. The vapes sold “also contained roughly 1,160 tonnes of copper, [which is] enough for 1.6mn home electric vehicle chargers”.

🌱 Are manufacturers taking recycling measures?

Vape and e-cigarette manufacturers globally have been “slow to act” in addressing the environmental impacts of their products. They “have made little effort to enable the recycling of their products and prevent a precious resource from ending up in landfills”. In the EU and UK, “producers of electronics are legally obliged to fund the recycling of a tonnage equivalent to what they put on the market”. Yet, according to Material Focus, “only 16 of 150 vape producers and importers in the UK […] are registered to do so”.

🌱 Are bans planned?

Article 5 of the EU’s directive of single-use plastics “bans the sale of single-use products such as cotton buds and drinking straws, but single-use e-cigarettes are not listed”. New EU regulations making replaceable or rechargeable batteries mandatory in all consumer products by 2027 (which are set to be passed later this year) should however apply to e-cigarettes. Flavored e-cigarettes and vapes have already been banned in several countries for health reasons and concerns over their use by minors. Now, “[p]olicymakers are [also] becoming increasingly agitated about the waste associated”. Amongst others, bans on the sale of single-use vapes are being discussed and planned in Germany, France, Estonia, Scotland, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and parts of the USA.