In the UK alone over 2m single use vapes are disposed of each week.
Worldwide, this figure is hard to estimate, but it is likely that >20m single use vapes are being disposed of incorrectly per week on a global scale. With each vape weighing c.27g, the weight of vapes per annum exceeds 280,000 tonnes of material, currently being burned, buried or manually processed.
Vape products contain plastic, precious metals and lithium-ion batteries which remain charged even once the vape liquid has been consumed. A survey of 1,000 vape users found that 41% of respondents said they typically discarded disposable vapes in household waste, 24% in street bins, 20% in household recycling and 15% at work. Even when disposed of at recycling centres or in recycling containers provided in some retail locations, these products are seldom processed/recycled in a sustainable or safe automated way, despite large waste management companies offering collection and recycling services.
The fact is that most vapes are being collected and then shipped to numerous countries to be disposed of in land-fill sites or hand processed at potentially unsafe processing units, the same is true of most lithium-ion fuel cell products, with Electric Vehicle (EV) battery disposal at its infancy and with zero de-charging/recycling infrastructure in place. Car dealerships and manufacturers are desperate for a solution which until now did not exist, with the problem worsening at pace. It is expected that there will be 11 million EV batteries that will require recycling by 2030 – a huge volume of materials that need to be re-purposed.
Most of the current lithium is either dumped in landfill or incinerated, contributing to Europe’s dependency on lithium supply. (FOE Europe)
Over two million single-use vapes are being disposed of incorrectly per week. (circularonline.co.uk)
One existing partner in the vaping space is responsible for the sale of 9m disposable vapes per month globally, and a further 10m+ of re-useable reduced harm products, all of which LRS can recycle.
On a global scale >280,000 tonnes of disposable vaping products are sole each year with the market continuing to expand at pace.
The electric vehicle boom could leave 11 million tonnes of spent lithium-ion batteries in need of recycling between now and 2030, according to Ajay Kochhar, CEO of Canadian battery recycling startup Li-Cycle