More Than a Million Vapes a Day in UK Thrown Away, Says Research (theguardian.com) 43
Thirteen vapes are thrown away every second in the UK -- more than a million a day -- leading to an "environmental nightmare," according to research. From a report: There has also been a rise in "big puff" vapes which are bigger and can hold up to 6,000 puffs per vape, with single use vapes averaging 600. Three million of these larger vapes are being bought every week according to the research, commissioned by Material Focus, and conducted by Opinium. 8.2 million vapes are now thrown away or recycled incorrectly every week.
From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children. Vapes will only be allowed to be sold if they are rechargeable or contain a refillable cartridge.
But all types of vape contain lithium-ion batteries which are dangerous if crushed or damaged because they can cause fires in bin lorries or waste and recycling centres. These fires are on the rise across the UK, with an increase last year of 71% compared with 2022.
From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children. Vapes will only be allowed to be sold if they are rechargeable or contain a refillable cartridge.
But all types of vape contain lithium-ion batteries which are dangerous if crushed or damaged because they can cause fires in bin lorries or waste and recycling centres. These fires are on the rise across the UK, with an increase last year of 71% compared with 2022.
Newfangled cancer sticks (Score:2)
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Cigarettes take what, 40 years to give someone cancer?
We'll find out in 2060, maybe sooner, how bad vapes are.
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Not necessarily. I knew a heavy smoker who died of lung cancer in their mid-30s.
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It takes time to add certainty to trends.
In 2019–2020, there was an outbreak of lung injuries and deaths associated with vaping, known as e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI). The CDC recorded 68 deaths and over 2,800 hospitalizations due to EVALI by February 2020. The majority of cases were among young adults and teens, with 15% of patients being under 18 years old.
It's already known to not be safe. How unsafe, will take time and data.
Estimating about 6 Wh per battery (Score:3)
Going by roughly 2Ah per battery at roughly 3 volts, that's about 6 Wh per battery... or 48 MWh of capacity that's just thrown away. Not really a grid-saving capacity, but still.
Electricity consumers forced to pay for this (Score:2)
Agree on the message.
Disagree on the 'tax via fees' added to everyone's electrical cost in the UK to fund the Material Focus advertising, advocacy agency anti-vape program.
People that do not vape should not be forced to fund this, regardless of the environmental benefit. Such schemes lead to even more extra fees added to universal basic utilities like electricity.
If the government wants to regulate, tax and force recycling or lower consumption of vapes it should be done in a direct law passed by the govern
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There's a guy who recycled all the "street lithium" (as Big Clive puts it) he found into a 3kWh battery pack for his home grown e-bike.
48MWh is also equivalent to about 500 EVs with nearly 100kWh batteries
Single use.. (Score:2)
is so lazy. When I vaped, I used tanks and refilled with liquid. It made it feel ritualistic, and I could control the amount of nicotine I inhaled.
Only reason I stopped was that the tank I bought wasnt designed well and the thread would strip the threads on the batteries I connected, and nobody would replace it, and I didn't want to buy another, so I quit.
power + chemical (Score:2)
Vapes will only be allowed to be sold if they are rechargeable or contain a refillable cartridge.
"Or"? Wouldn't they need to be both reliable and rechargeable for them to be reusable?
Re: power + chemical (Score:2)
Meant refillable, not reliable. But that too.
Can't use them long term if they fail, and electronics failing from repeat exposure to high heat is also an issue, if the my LED flashlight is any evidence. I'm pretty sure the 18650 cell that sits closest to the LED end is being damaged by the heat of extended operating as after only a few charges that battery seems to go bad according to my Nightcore charger and I have to replace it.
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I have a disposable cannabis vape pen designed for "batter" which is a thick, light brown liquid that is "only" around 60% THC. By necessity, it runs hotter than a vape cartridge for pure extract. It has to be recharged even with its original load, there was a lot more supply in it than there was power to smoke it. But to that end, it connects by USB-C, so I guess it would qualify as "not disposable" -- and that holds up in practice as refilling is as simple as prying off the mouthpiece. It's actually holdi
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Meant refillable, not reliable. But that too.
failing from repeat exposure to high heat is also an issue, if the my LED flashlight is any evidence. I'm pretty sure the 18650 cell that sits closest to the LED end is being damaged by the heat of extended operating as after only a few charges that battery seems to go bad according to my Nightcore charger and I have to replace it.
Assuming it is made for 18650s that would seem like a design flaw.
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>""Or"? Wouldn't they need to be both reliable and rechargeable for them to be reusable?"
I think you meant "refillable" not "reliable".
But, yeah. Even better would be to have a unit with REPLACEABLE batteries, not just rechargeable. I guess that might make them bigger/heavier, but there are "standard" cells that could then be used. And it would result in even that much less waste and it would make recycling the batteries even easier/simpler/safer.
It is frustrating that so many devices now have non-rep
Re: power + chemical (Score:2)
I thought they were replaceable in the beginning. I recall 18650 cells being a lot more popular suddenly with people who weren't preppers with powerful flashlights and the reason was vapes. I figured the disposable ones gained popularity by being smaller/more lightweight and ofc it's more convenient to not need to fill it and just toss it, just like people like bottled water and single use plastic/paper plates for the same reason.
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You can get vapes that use disposable cartridges but don't have replaceable batteries, though you can recharge them. You can also get vapes with refillable tanks, which are what we started with, and these always have rechargeable if not replaceable batteries. The ban is really just on vapes that are neither refillable nor rechargeable, because single-use tanks combined with rechargeable batteries just means plastic waste.
Recently I've started to see "disposable" vapes with removable batteries, but from the
Cue Big Clive (Score:4, Informative)
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And a lot of them come apart sufficiently for filling without too much difficulty, they just make a point of not telling you how.
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Users should be required to consume entire thing. (Score:4, Insightful)
They are a drug delivery device and should require a prescription. Oh what? Too bad.
root cause (Score:2, Insightful)
The root cause is addiction. Preventing young people from starting is the key.
Re: root cause (Score:3, Interesting)
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On of the ways smoking was tackled was to ban advertising. Vapes have almost no restriction on advertising but successive governments do nothing. Also fucking ban gambling advertising too. Who cares if it harms that predatory "industry".
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It's 2024 (soon to be 2025)...how is it people still even want to start smoking?
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I volunteer with youth, and have seen first hand how this generally works, at least in the United States. I suspect that it is similar in places where it is illegal for minors to smoke and/or vape.
What happens is actually pretty simple, and pretty sad.
At risk minors get befriended by cooler older youths. They get invited to parties where there is smoking and drinking. Giving alcohol and nicotine to minors is illegal in the U.S., but it's readily available, and that makes it exceptionally low risk for
You assume ANY use is improper. (Score:2)
Perhaps you should just try to solve the problem instead of knowing the solution and trying to find a problem to point at.
UK population is only 68 million (Score:2)
Are you telling me 1 in 68 people still smoke on that damp rock in 2024? That seems... really really high? Even going to asia it's getting moderately rare to see people smoking in public
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I'm not in the UK but am still concerned... (Score:1)
Regulation to require reuseable parts? (Score:2)
This isn't rocket science.
Like... Add a recycle fee to any non-reusable vapes, and require shops to collect and turn them in.
It'd help to have hardware that works around the problem. I know vapes purchased locally are not available that accept external batteries (the 18650 size or whatever), at least not easily found by me so far. Everything is the "use it until you throw it out" variety.
Last I searched there was an older model that wasn't being upgraded/updated, but it was expensive and no idea how rel
To finish that last comment... (Score:2)
I mean I found a unit that could accept vape cartridges and external batteries. I can't remember the brand anymore, and it wasn't something that immediately popped for my searches. Was rounded and chunky somehow, not long skinny and pen like.
Thought cost was like $100, and that isn't even with a functioning battery or charger.
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This is nothing new, except for your suggestion to do this with vapes. Back when I was young, in the '50s and '60s, sodas, wine, beer and other beverages were sold in glass bottles. Part of each bottle's price was a "deposit" of a few cents that would be refunded if/when you brought the empty back to be reused. It doesn't sound like enough to bother with and it wouldn't be today, but prices were lower th
"environmental nightmare" (Score:1)