Donald Macphail, Chief Operating Officer - Treatment at Veolia UK, comments on research finding the number of disposable single-use vapes discarded weekly has quadrupled to 5 million over the last year.
According to the latest research from independent not-for-profit organisation Material Focus, the number of disposable single-use vapes thrown away has soared from 1.3 million to nearly 5 million per week. The researchers also estimate this figure to be equivalent to 8 vapes being discarded every second.
The researchers also estimate this figure to be equivalent to 8 vapes being discarded every second.
Material Research also estimates the potential yearly cost to taxpayers of collecting and recycling these vapes at £200 million.
Just because something is disposable, it doesn’t necessarily mean it can go in the bin.
Millions of vapes are thrown away each week, causing fires in collection trucks and recycling facilities - when they can and should be recycled.
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.
This is a classic example of a product coming on the market without considering the environmental impact of their full life cycles.
Additionally, we need support from the Government.
The Environment Agency has set a 55 per cent 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.
