Why vapes are a problem
Vapes and e-cigarettes are a fire risk as they contain lithium-ion batteries which can set alight causing fires which endanger lives and cause extensive damage to waste infrastructure.
Over 8 million vapes are binned every week in the UK. When electricals and items containing hidden batteries (such as vapes) are binned, they can get crushed in the waste treatment process causing them to spark, leading to fires in bin lorries and recycling centres.
The good news is that all vapes can be recycled!
Did you know that 80% of the materials in a vape can be recycled? They contain lithium, a valuable material that can be found in a lot of batteries such as those in electric cars.
According to Recycle Your Electricals, if we recycled all vapes instead of binning them, we could power over 10,000 electric cars a year instead!
Where to recycle
All retailers that sell vapes in the UK must take back your old one to recycle, so it should be as easy to recycle them as it is to buy them. Alternatively, you can take them to your local household waste recycling centre where many will have dedicated bins for vapes.