How do we recycle our disposable vapes?
Disposable vapes on full display across convenience stores
Disposable vapes have increased in popularity over the past year alone, but should they be banned due to their harmful effects on the environment?
According to government statistics, 15.2% of current vapers report using disposable vaping products in 2022 compared with 2.2% in 2021. This is dangerous to the environment due to the batteries inside the disposable vapes which make the products extremely difficult to recycle.
There are environmental activist groups calling for the disposable vapes to be banned. However, vape shops have found it difficult to handle the high volume of empty vapes coming back into their stores.
Owner of TJ E-cigarettes in Gillingham, Jenna Pattison said: “How… do we deal with the now thousands upon thousands upon thousands of plastic tubes that we’ve got. Because you can’t get rid of the batteries which means you can’t recycle in a normal place.”
Consumers are advised to come to dispose of their vapes at a household recycling centre. However, vape shops say this system is problematic as the vapes end up in their hands, still with no environmentally friendly way to dispose of the vape.
Vape shop worker, Jack Morrison said: There is nowhere to recycle them, so everyone came here to recycle them, which is great but then that now means our business becomes a recycling centre and we haven’t got the time, we haven’t got the resources.”
Disposable vapes have broadly had a positive impact on public health to help stop people from smoking. Mr Morrison says he tells his customers the benefits of using reusable vape pens before they buy a disposable vape.
He said: “You can try and educate someone until you’re blue in the face. If they don’t want to listen, they don’t want to listen.”
The easy-to-use colourful tubes have attracted people through their bright packaging and exotic flavours. Two million disposable vapes are sold every week in the UK, but with no large-scale disposable vape recycling scheme, the throw-away vapes are causing tonnes of lithium being sent to landfill every year.
