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Tobacco waste is the largest source of plastic pollution on Earth.
Millions of cigarette butts Earth’s land and oceans are littered with toxic chemicals and harmful man-made plastics, dumped, tossed, and disposed of every year.
However, this is quickly matched by another waste stream: e-cigarettes.
Marketed as a less unhealthy alternative to smoking tobacco, vaping is a huge threat to the environment.
What’s wrong with e-cigarettes?
E-cigarettes have grown in popularity over the past few years.
They are commonly used by people wanting to quit smoking, although many young people now start vaping directly.
In the UK alone, the number of adults using e-cigarettes rose from 1.7 percent in 2012 to 7.1 percent in 2019, according to Public Health England.
E-cigarettes themselves come in many shapes and sizes. Some are reusable and refillable as well Single use plastic cartridges, while others are completely disposable. This creates waste – and a lot of it.
Research by Material Focus found that around 1.3 million single-use e-cigarettes are thrown away every week in the UK – that’s two every second.
By the time you finish reading this article, 100 will be sent to landfill.
“With the vape market largely owned by the tobacco industry, it is legitimate to question whether vaping is more eco-friendly than smoking, or whether the tobacco industry has gone from bad to worse,” wrote researchers Jeremy Porches, Clement Mercier and Valerie Forrest. In a scientific paper on the subject.
“A new threat is now facing our planet: vapor waste,” they added.
E-cigarettes are not recycled
A key part of the problem is that single-use vape is rarely recycled, with only 30 percent being reused. Coated in brightly colored plastic, they use precious metals – especially in them Lithium Battery
Disposable e-cigarettes are the most popular form, especially among young people.
On average, they contain 0.15 grams of lithium, which is over 1.3 million thrown away every week. This amounts to 10 tonnes of lithium per year, equivalent to the lithium in the batteries within 1,200 electric vehicles.
But the problems don’t stop there.
As their batteries and circuit boards break down, vapes leak toxic chemicals into the environment, while their casings grind into harmful microplastics. When it is recycled, it creates another headache even if the components are disposed of properly.
Are people aware of the environmental effects of vaping?
Most people don’t think about what happens to their e-cigarette when they throw it away.
About half of young people don’t know what to do with used devices once they’re finished. More than half report throwing them in the trash, research by the Truth Initiative, a smoking and vaping awareness organization, found.
There are also problems with the products.
Manufacturers often don’t provide clear guidance on how to dispose of it, or they advertise vape as disposable instead of encouraging it. recycling.
Scott Butler, executive director of Materials Focus, said, “We need to take immediate action now to ensure they are recycled.
“Throwing away vapes means we are throwing away the most A precious material on our planet.“
It puts the onus on e-cigarette makers and sellers, saying they need to do more to tackle the crisis.
Butler added, “Manufacturers and retailers need to work together to make people aware that vapes should never be wound up and that they should be recycled.”
“Recycling needs to be made easier and manufacturers and retailers can be part of the solution by adding in-store collection points.”
Others believe the state needs to step in to promote and reduce safe recycling garbage By regulation.
“Fortunately, vape waste is a preventable environmental disaster, but to avoid this disaster, disposable e-cigarettes must be better regulated,” write scientists Jeremy Porches, Clément Mercier and Valerie Forrest.
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