Non-recyclable and polluting, e-cigarettes become an environmental problem
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Same vice, same defect, but with new risks for the environment. While the world is fighting a daily battle against the abandonment of classic cigarette butts – according to the UN, the most discarded waste on the planet reaches the astonishing figure of 766,000 tons every year – another product linked to smoking is seriously causing concern for the its polluting aspect: disposable electronic cigarettes. Since the invention of this product in 2003 the vaporizers they are constantly growing and the use and improper abandonment of disposable ones, which can seriously contaminate the environment, is also increasing. The latest worrying news was released by Bywaters, a company that deals with waste recycling in London and which has in fact analyzed the City’s garbage in the last 3 years and found “a sharp increase in waste from the vaping industry”.
The initiative
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In a waste collection event organized by Bywaters, also with the aim of understanding its contents and impacts, 129 kg of waste were found in just two days disposable vaporizers left in the environment. An alarm bell that according to the sustainable waste management company must force us to think about the possible recycling rate of electronic cigarettes in order to do more so that “they are disposed of in a sustainable way”, for example through special collection containers, e-cigarettes that will be increasingly popular in the English capital.
According to other research, in Great Britain alone, two disposable vaporizers are thrown away every second and recently a report by CleanUp Australia has shown how the impact of these products is growing exponentially, which “seem to be even more harmful to the environment than cigarette butts” as they “present a triple threat: plastic waste, e-waste and hazardous waste”. In fact, most of the “vape” devices contain both plastic percentages and electronic parts with for example lithium which, if it were recovered, it is estimated that in one year it could help produce about 1,200 batteries for electric vehicles.
Legambiente
The most abandoned waste in the city? Cigarette butts, caps and cans
The alarm relating toenvironmental impact of e-cigarettes it grows with the increase in consumers, which went from 7 million in 2011 to 55 million ten years later, according to Euromonitor International, with a turnover that could touch 40 billion dollars in 2026. Those who have attempted to investigate the end of life of vape products, such as the company Material Focus engaged in the recovery of electronic components, indicates that e-cigarettes – then destined for landfills – contain plastic, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, flammable batteries and other parts potentially harmful to the environment, and this while globally there is still a lack of a recycling chain of the vape. Experts point out that even greater design in smoking tools that could have a lower long-term impact would be needed: already today, to be recycled correctly, for example, they should be disassembled before being disposed of, just as a possible circular economy should be increased.
In some cases, such as three fires that broke out in a waste plant near London’s Heathrow Airport, disposable vaping devices with lithium batteries have been blamed for thefires in ecological centres. Also for this reason, in Great Britain, the government is considering the possibility of a law to ensure that i vaping manufacturers foot the bill for the collection and disposal of used products.
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