The number of disposable single-use vapes thrown away has quadrupled over the past year.
New research from Material Focus found that 7.7 million single-use vapes were bought per week, more than double that in 2022, and that the number of disposable vapes being thrown away has almost quadrupled from 1.3 million to five million per week in the past year.
The Material Focus research also found just 17% of people who buy vapes say that they recycle single-use vapes in a shop or local recycling centre, with 73% of UK vapers saying they throw away single-use vapes.
1% of UK vapers say they flush single-use vapes down the toilet while 3% of UK vapers say they drop single-use vapes on the ground (8% by 16-18 year olds) and that 33% of 16-18 year- olds vapers throw single-use vapes away in the bin at their place of education or work. The main reason that 16-18 tends to throw away/ drop/ flush their vapes is because they don’t want the people they live with to know they vape.
It estimated that the yearly cost of collecting and recycling these was £200m.
Executive director of Material Focus, Scott Butler, said the situation has gotten “out of control”.
“Single-use vapes are a strong contender for being the most environmentally wasteful, damaging and dangerous consumer product ever made. And still very few producers and retailers comply with environmental regulations and haven’t put recycling drop-off points and systems in place. This all means that too often local authorities are being burdened with the major operational and financial headaches associated with what is now the fastest growing and most dangerous waste stream in the UK, single-use vapes.”
Butler said more recycling points are needed to tackle the issue. “We need rapid growth in the number of accessible and visible vape recycling drop-off points. And we need proper financing of genuine recycling solutions to recover materials and manage fire risks. The solution is clear: immediate, significant and transparent vape industry voluntary action in advance of planned regulatory changes already earmarked by Defra. The UK needs more accessible recycling drop-off points in stores, in parks, in public spaces near offices, bars and pubs, and in schools, colleges and universities. With 75% of vapers thinking that producers and retailers should provide more information that states that vapes can be recycled the word “disposable” should no longer be used in any marketing and promotion.
“Until single-use vape producers, importers and retailers act to genuinely comply with and finance their legal environmental responsibilities then the calls for banning the sale of them will only strengthen.”
The recycling campaign group set out a list of suggestions to reduce the number of single-use vapes that are thrown away.
These include: immediate, significant and transparent vape industry voluntary action on a comprehensive and widely accessible take-back and recycling solution alongside a major communications campaign to raise public awareness; more information displayed on vapes on how they can be recycled and more recycling points for vapes in stores, parks, public places and schools and colleges.
Veolia UK chief operating officer - treatment, Donald Macphail called on all stakeholders to do their part to reduce the number of vapes being thrown away.
“This is a classic example of a product coming on the market without considering the environmental impact of their full life cycles,” he said. “We need consumers to bring vapes and batteries back to designated return points so they can be safely treated and recycled to preserve the valuable lithium and plastic for new items. We also need vape producers to design vapes for recycling, they contain critical raw materials that we need for an electric future.”
Macphail added that the government needs to be involved as well. “The Environment Agency has set a 55% recycling target for vapes, but at the moment the UK is far from achieving that goal. To increase this, we need to build a stronger policy and legislation position to encourage eco design and new recycling investment - and fast. We need to create a new individual EEE Product Category for vapes and ensure all manufacturers are signed up to the obligated producers list to properly implement the “producer pays” model.”
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