Thirteen vapes are thrown away every second in the UK – more than a million a day – leading to an “environmental nightmare”, according to research.
There has also been a rise in “big puff” vapes which are bigger and can hold up to 6,000 puffs per vape, with single use vapes averaging 600. Three million of these larger vapes are being bought every week according to the research, commissioned by Material Focus, and conducted by Opinium. 8.2 million vapes are now thrown away or recycled incorrectly every week.
From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children. Vapes will only be allowed to be sold if they are rechargeable or contain a refillable cartridge.
But all types of vape contain lithium-ion batteries which are dangerous if crushed or damaged because they can cause fires in bin lorries or waste and recycling centres. These fires are on the rise across the UK, with an increase last year of 71% compared with 2022.
ban DISPOSABLE vapes.
Many disposible vapes have USB C outlets to recharge the device. I personally think those should also be banned since there’s no way to refill them. Not sure why they specified rechargable as an exception here.
Those are only as ubiquitous as they are because of all the previous bans that wiped out all the juice and refillable mod manufacturers that used to exist. They’re just trading one problem for another and are now trying to blame end-users for the mess these legislatures have created (at least in the US).
The EU also has an eliquid limit, which means they have to dispose of more vapes.
What an idiotic (or very calculated) thing to target. You can buy ten 2mL vapes but you can’t have 20mL inside a single vape? I fail to see how this would alter anyone’s behavior as far as quitting nicotine goes and intentionally creates more waste. It’d be like legislating that you’re only allowed to sell cigarettes in a 3-pack. I say ‘calculated’ above because maybe this is the very situation they wanted to create so they could point to the mess and sway the public to look at vapers like disgusting pigs in order to pass even harsher laws.
They are refillable at least the lost mary bm6000 is (only one I’m familiar with), it’s actually pretty easy and gives you 10ml in a very small device a big advantage over normal vapes where in the UK the tank can only be 2ml.
They really need to either change that law (2ml is nothing) or start designing reusable vapes that attach the bottle in the same way so you don’t have to constantly refill.
To me the advantage is a small size and the 10ml container being cleverly attached to skirt a silly law.
single use vapes are one of the most wasteful products imaginable
It’s also so much more expensive than just buying a refillable vape
Refillables and juices have been disappearing for the last few years. Almost all that’s left is disposables
And then we have the problem of batteries dying out and having to dispose of them or the whole device.
Same goes for any other device with a lithium battery. Refillable vapes last quite a while at least.
Same goes for any other device with a lithium battery
Yes, no reason to add a new one to make the problem bigger.
Refillable vapes last quite a while at least.
Depends on how much someone uses it but it ends up adding to the already growing battery waste.
Lithium batteries can be recycled so it’s not really generating waste to use them unless you’re throwing batteries in the garbage.
The only reason why the industry moved to disposables is because of all these heavy handed regulations on the industry which did nothing toward their stated goals of ‘keeping them away from kids’ and just created more issues. If we could go back to refillable mods with replaceable batteries, the waste issue caused by disposibles would be mitigated.
I don’t even understand how they’re so fucking cheap to make? I don’t vape but I smoke the disposable weed pens when im hunting or golfing and they cost the same per mg of weed as just the carts you need your own battery pack for. OK as I’m writing this I’m realizing it may be the profit margins of weed that is dictating this and not the cheap disposable pens🤣
I agree. My coworker buys disposable vapes with full color LCD screens and all other types of gizmos and they cost about the same as a single bottle of juice for my $100 mod.
Make your own eliquid and you only pay a dollar or two for a 120ml bottle.
The big puff vapes you mention can have the battery’s swapped (and charged) and are refillable, they are still a waste though because they only last as long as the coil. But it’s a step in the right direction.
I suspect when the ban comes in they’ll just make the coil changeable and keep selling them as there’s no real reason they actually couldn’t be doing that now.
‘old school’ vapes are basically completely repairable, vaping was born out of DIY and so the big goofy ahh vapes have pretty minimal waste, coils are generally small and replaceable, and many of those big boi vapes feature what’s called an RTA which has a deck that allows manual rebuilding of the coil. The only waste with those is a bit of cotton and an inch of stainless steel wire.
Hell, I used for years, a purely mechanical vape that had no electronics and was completely regulated by the resistance of the coil. It was a tube with a single 18650 and pressing the bottom just made the connection on the battery.
No e-waste from that device, the consumables were very minimal, probably the lifetime of the waste of the entire device, including batteries and the device itself, fit inside a sandwich bag, and that would be using it for 5ish years.
There are very low waste options out there, it’s just people generally don’t like using them because they require slightly more effort, I think there is a balance between hobby level repairability and ease of use somewhere
More people need to learn about Alan Carr’s Easyway to quit nicotine
that book is a waste of time.
More people need to mind their own damn business too so that we don’t end up in ridiculous situations like this.
soooo many free 18650s for my thinkpads 🥰🥰🥰
Disposables use tiny 300mah batteries.
Lol could you imagine. 1 million 18650 rechargeable batteries a day you could salvage/collect? I’d be modding everything with battery packs and toss all usb chargers out for no reason but dramatic effect. Lol
But most of them aren’t 18650 batteries, they are bespoke sizes to fit in the little disposable vapes.
this is the way
