Vaping is massively popular in the United Kingdom but what happens to all of the used vaping products when vapers are done with them? One would like to think that they’re properly sorted and recycled, especially when the law requires local shops that sell vapes to take them back and recycle them. Despite the law requiring them to do so, some shops are not complying and simply refusing to take back used vapes from their customers. Still, there are other ways to recycle vapes, which leaves vapers in the UK with little excuse to discard their old vaping supplies instead of recycling them.
As it turns out, most vapers in the UK do not recycle their vapes. According to new research from the London-based non-profit Material Focus, a whopping five million disposable vapes are discarded every week in the UK.
To put that in perspective, that’s eight vapes discarded each second in the United Kingdom, which is enough discarded lithium to produce 5,000 batteries for electric cars each year. Obviously, the UK has a problem with vape waste that begs the question of how the government can compel vapers to recycle their used vapes and other vaping products, such as e-liquid bottles and vape pods.
Material Focus believes that the vape industry should be tasked with the daunting task of collecting and recycling used vaping products and that the cost, which the non-profit estimates to be around USD $250 million (£200m) a year, should be paid by the industry as well.
“Single-use vapes are a strong contender for being the most environmentally wasteful, damaging and dangerous consumer product ever made,” according to the executive director at Material Focus, Scott Butler, The Guardian reported.
According to the research conducted by Material Focus, just 17% of vapers properly recycle their vapes. Clearly, that’s nowhere near an acceptable rate. Ideally, 100% of vapers should properly recycle their used vapes.
How are the vape companies responding to the apparent problem? Elfbar, the most popular disposable vape brand in the UK, told the BBC via a company spokesperson that they are “fully committed to increasing rates of recycling” and that they are working towards adding thousands of recycling points at retail outlets and increasing the recyclability of their vaping products.
Another vape company whose products are sold in the UK, Feelm, which is a subsidiary of the world’s largest vape company, Smoore, has launched a new program in which vapers are offered free vapes in exchange for returning their used ones.
In some cases, the question of how to recycle a vape poses a hurdle for vapers who want to recycle their used vapes but don’t know how. While the reality is that vapes are largely recyclable and contain valuable materials like copper and lithium, many vapers do not yet know how to properly recycle their vapes.
In the UK, vapes can be recycled at household waste recycling centers (HWRCs) by simply placing them inside WEEE bins. Electronic stores that are over 400 square meters and stores that sell vapes are required to accept vapes for recycling without any fee. This means that vapers in the UK have various locations where they can recycle their vapes, yet most are discarding them as if they were trash.
How do you think the problem of vape waste should be solved?
