OPINION: Finally! We’re getting rid of disposable vapes for good

News and social media have been ablaze with talks of banning disposable vapes for a while – and now we are finally going to see the back of them.

There are a number of reasons that ministers want the devices off the streets, above all the risk they pose to the health of children whose hands they inevitably fall into.

Of course, this is cause for serious concern. But as the managing director of a waste management and recycling firm, my biggest fear at the moment is for the lives at risk in the industry.

Disposable vapes are powered by lithium-ion batteries that can lead to catastrophic explosions if they find their way into the mechanisms.

The recycling process, with its crushing and sorting machinery, is a hotbed for potential mishaps once batteries like this are thrown into the mix. If one gets shredded, it goes up in flames pretty quickly.

Batteries are banned from skips, but that doesn’t mean that one won’t be occasionally tossed into a container by a passerby thinking it a better option than littering (many are just dumped by the roadside or in the general waste).

Horror stories of vapes ending up in recycling containers and exploding have ignited concerns at SunEnviro that we could be next.

We’ve certainly picked out a few of the flammable devices from mixed waste, but touch wood, there’s never been an incident at any of our sites.

Unfortunately, other recycling businesses and local authorities haven’t been so lucky…

An explosive concern

Stories of fires breaking out at waste processing centres are becoming uncomfortably common in the news.

Some firms have been forced to install expensive fire detection equipment to control the chaos that ensues after a battery ends up in the recycling.

Thermal imaging cameras quickly detect rises in temperature, which triggers water and foam cannons to lock onto the flames and douse them. These systems can cost as much as £250,000 each.

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And it’s not just the health risks and fire prevention costs that’s sparking so much backlash over the rise in single-use vapes.

Fires caused by these explosions can lead to extensive damage to recycling machinery and infrastructure.

A single incident can dramatically halt operations, resulting in costly repairs and jeopardising the continuity of recycling efforts, ultimately impacting our environment.

It’s crazy to think that such a small device could pose such a threat to our workers and industry, but the evidence is anything but hazy.

I for one was glad to hear that the future of these dangerous devices is up in smoke and would encourage ministers to make sure it remains a hot topic.

Politically charged

Ministers have confirmed they’ll be stubbing out the production and sale of disposable vapes in 2024, and in my opinion, it couldn’t come soon enough.

According to the Local Government Association, 1.3m vapes are thrown away every week.

But Material Focus, a not-for-profit organisation committed to stopping electricals being hoarded and thrown away, puts the figure closer to five million. That’s four times as many as 2022 and works out to eight vapes being tossed every second. The lithium used to make that many vapes would be enough for 5,000 electric car batteries.

Material Focus executive director Scott Butler, has branded single-use vapes as “a strong contender for the most environmentally wasteful, damaging and dangerous consumer product ever made.”

But some would argue that the direction the wind is blowing for disposable vapes is a bad thing for the nation’s lungs.

The UK Vaping Industry Association claims that without disposable vapes, fewer smokers would quit the habit.

However, although nicotine vapour is thought to be less harmful than tobacco, it hasn’t been proven to be an effective way to help addicts wean themselves off.

Some vapers have even fallen victim to devices exploding in their faces, leading to life-altering injuries and in some cases, death.

Wildlife is also at risk from disposed vapes. Animals can confuse the discarded device as food and end up choking on or ingesting the liquid nicotine.

So it seems to me that the dangers of disposable vapes massively outweigh any potential benefits and I welcome the news that the government is finally stamping them out.

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Short battery life

These single-use devices contribute to environmental degradation, litter our streets, and pose a danger to young people.

As more and more disposable vapes make their way to recycling facilities, the unseen risk to workers and the very infrastructure that processes our waste is being ignored in favour of these big vape corporations.

There were talks of mitigating the impact of vaping devices on the recycling community by involving the manufacturers in the disposal process.

I’m all for putting more pressure on the vape industry to invest in recycling points and education on how to properly dispose of them, but personally, I don’t think that’s going far enough.

Because the reality is that the problem of batteries in waste is a far bigger one than simply vape pens.

More risk to come?

The more these sorts of things they ban the better, because there’ll be a time when a battery in the waste stream ends up doing some serious harm.

But banning vapes alone doesn’t solve the problem for the recycling industry because they’re not the only products being thrown away with batteries inside.

There will always be another gadget around the corner that’ll start cropping up in skips, so we need more safeguards to protect ourselves.

Education on the dangers of batteries and the proper way to dispose of them should be a priority, as should more accessible containers.

AI might also be part of the solution to spotting rogue batteries before they can do any damage.

Technology developed by Greyparrot takes continuous images of waste passing through screening lines and recognises common items. This could be used to identify batteries and stop the conveyor before it’s too late. It might also spot gas canisters, another hazardous waste item that sometimes finds its way into skips.

I appreciate that the move to ban single-use vapes alleviates the worries of councils and parents, especially when the products seem like they’re almost intentionally marketed at children.

And it’s great news for the recycling industry as well. But it’s only the first step in a broader move towards keeping dangerous items out of waste bins.

It’ll take a joint effort between consumers, businesses, authorities and technologists to ensure batteries are properly disposed of and eliminate the risk to our workers and the recycling industry once and for all.

SunSkips employs a meticulous screening line to sift out hazardous objects like single-use vapes, but we would like to remind all clients that batteries are strictly  forbidden from skips (special collections can be arranged).