Why disposable vapes are becoming an environmental liability
CBC
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This week:
Disposable e-cigarettes are a growing problem in Canada, not only because they fuel nicotine addiction among youth and give Big Tobacco companies new ways to market their products, but also because they're a major environmental liability.
Canada is trying to meet an ambitious goal of zero plastic waste by 2030 by introducing a ban on the use of single-use plastics like grocery bags and straws. But plastic disposable e-cigarettes are complicating these efforts, largely because the vaping industry, which produces millions of these devices a year, has no way to recycle them effectively.
Disposable vapes not only contain plastic but also rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and toxic metals that can leach into the environment and are non-recyclable, adding to the more than 50 million tonnes of electronic waste estimated to be generated globally each year, according to the UN.
"People treat it as disposable, so it's littered or thrown away into the garbage or into recycling, where it can also cause fires because of the lithium batteries," said Karen Wirsig, the plastics program manager with Environmental Defence. "And the companies that introduce them don't really have to think about the end of life."
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said in a statement to CBC News that disposable vapes also hold a circuit board that contains heavy metals like cobalt, lead and mercury.
"If these devices end up in the environment as pollution, they may be harmful to wildlife and their habitats," an ECCC spokesperson said in an email.
Research conducted last year by Material Focus, a British environmental nonprofit, found that an estimated 1.2 million single-use vapes are thrown away every week in the U.K. — with enough lithium to power 1,200 electric vehicles.
"Environmentally speaking, there is no justification for a single-use disposable vape. It doesn't make any sense," said Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus. "Nothing is disposable, but just to include that [branding] is very psychologically impactful on people, because it's just giving this notion of throwaway from the start."
The vaping industry works with a company called TerraCycle to recycle used e-cigarettes, empty vapes and nicotine cartridges in Canada, but requires consumers to return the devices to specialized vape stores or mail them to the company.
In a statement to CBC News, TerraCycle said it has recycled 90,000 to 130,000 devices since partnering with a tobacco company on the program in late 2021. A TerraCycle spokesperson said it is "important to both educate vape users that recycling solutions exist and that improper disposal can have a significant detrimental environmental impact."
A 2020 survey from U.S.-based tobacco control organization the Truth Initiative found more than half of young e-cigarette users reported disposing of used e-cigarette pods or empty disposable vapes in the trash, and many didn't know how to recycle them.