Resource management company Veolia has launched a national vape collection service to help provide safe disposal and recycling routes for the three million vapes currently thrown away in the U.K. each week.
Veolia states it can now facilitate the collection and transport of vaping products from retailers to a recycling facility to extract the valuable materials, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese, inside.
The recycling of these items could save more than 10 tons of lithium that could be recycled into new products from the batteries, which would save up to 72 tons of carbon emissions compared to using raw materials, as producing one ton of lithium from ore produces around nine tons of CO2 emissions, according to Scottish Local Retailer.
Collections will be scheduled according to demand and in order to store and transport these materials safely, Veolia will provide retailers with individual containers of vermiculite, a mineral that will minimize fire risks from the lithium-ion batteries contained within the vapes.
“Two vapes are thrown away every second. They might be called disposable, but they can and should be recycled,” said Donald Macphail, Chief Operating Officer – Treatment at Veolia UK, said. “Our new nationwide vape collection service will provide a safe recycling avenue to retailers who provide the mandatory take back schemes for vapes and ensure that we can extract the valuable materials contained within, and mitigate any fire and environmental risks.”
Innokin has launched its “Vape For The Planet” campaign aimed at promoting sustainable vaping practices.
The campaign coincides with Earth Day 2023 and seeks to educate consumers about making environmentally friendly choices while providing discounts on sustainable product lines.
“Innokin has always focused on sustainability, with fully recyclable packaging, battery recycling initiatives through Recycle 4 You in France, and reforestation efforts with One Tree Planted to mark the company’s 10-year anniversary in 2021, which resulted in 3,650 trees being planted in the Amazon rainforest,” a press release states.
Innokin’s core product lines, including the Platform series and Endura series, are designed to last for 1-3 years of regular use, providing a sustainable and reliable alternative to combustible tobacco. In addition, Innokin has taken steps to reduce waste in the disposable category, with INNOBAR F3 and Aquios Bar models boasting a 95 percent reduction in plastic, by using a reinforced card shell design.
The “Vape For The Planet” campaign will begin with a direct donation to One Tree Planted to conserve nature and promote reforestation efforts through the planting of trees.
The company will also offer site-wide discounts on sustainable vaping devices through their online outlet, giving vapers the opportunity to directly reduce their environmental impact when vaping.
“To further promote sustainable vaping practices, Innokin will be producing a Vape For The Planet survey to gain insight into how the industry can reduce waste,” the release states. “The survey will be available on Innokin’s website Vape For The Planet, where customers can also learn more about sustainable vaping practices and Innokin’s efforts towards a greener future.”
Many of the environmental concerns raised about vaping stem from the use of disposable vapes, which produce more waste than refillable, reusable vaping devices.
The “Vape For The Planet” campaign seeks to educate consumers about the benefits of using permanent vaping devices, which significantly reduce the environmental impact of vaping while providing a long-term alternative to combustible tobacco.
The international ESG rating agency Sustainalytics awarded Smoore International Holdings Limited, parent to the FEELM and Vaporesso brands, the top position among global electronic atomization companies.
“Smoore’s outstanding performance in corporate governance, business ethics, supply chain, environmental management, and carbon emissions contributed to its leading position in the global electronic atomization industry,” a release states. “Its ESG score improved from 27.9 to 24.6 (the lower the Sustainalytics score, the better the performance), reflecting the industry and global recognition of Smoore’s accomplishments in sustainable development.”
Sustainalytics is an independent ESG research, rating, and data company with 25 years of expertise in ESG and corporate governance research and analysis, covering an estimated 15,000 companies globally.
Smoore consistently ranks first among global electronic atomization companies in the ESG ratings published by MSCI, the world’s largest index company.
Last year, Smoore declared that it was the first in the industry to launch a carbon neutrality plan, aiming to achieve operational carbon neutrality by 2050 and source 30 percent of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
Tobacco harm reduction initiatives should also cover e-waste management, say experts.
Contributed
E-waste is an emerging unintended environmental consequence of the revolution in electronic nicotine-delivery systems, threatening to undermine a technological innovation in public health. This conversation examines the intersection of regulatory policy, consumer behavior and the vaping products’ industry and hopes to map a sustainable path for the future.
In the discussion below, John Dunne from the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) brings in the vaping industry perspective, Pieter Vorster brings expert views on global tobacco and nicotine industry transformation, and Sudhanshu Patwardhan (Sud), a nicotine expert and health-tech entrepreneur, proposes a broader definition and scope of tobacco harm reduction (THR).
Sudhanshu Patwardhan
Patwardhan: We know that in the U.K. and the European Union, where they are regulated, vapes, or e-cigarettes, are classed as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Ideally, consumers in these countries should dispose of vapes at a household recycling center or at the shop where they bought the device. Manufacturers are also required to make recycling options available. Many consumers, however, are unaware that single-use vapes can or should be recycled. Incorrect disposal of these items can potentially release plastic, electronic and hazardous chemical waste into the environment and represent a fire hazard. How big is this issue currently? Does the industry have numbers contrasting sales to recycling?
Dunne: In the U.K., around 459 million e-cigarettes of all kinds are purchased each year, of which 168 million, or 37 percent, are single-use vapes. Approximately 43 percent of all vapes purchased are recycled, although this number is likely much lower for single-use (“disposable”) products:
Twenty-three percent of e-cigarettes are recycled in-store when consumers buy a new one.
Twenty percent are recycled at a local authority recycling center.
On the face of it, the 43 percent recycled figure for e-cigarettes compares favorably with the 31.2 percent of waste electrical and electronic equipment in the U.K. that was recycled or reused in the U.K. in 2021. However, vaping products’ relatively short lifespan means more waste is generated.
Patwardhan: Good to get that broader electronic products-based perspective and the product use life cycle nuance with regards to e-cigarettes. Obviously, there is a still a gap between current practices by consumers versus what would make e-cigarettes environmentally sustainable in the long run. Pieter, do you think there are any good examples of industry players showing some leadership in this?
Vorster: All three tobacco companies that sell single-use vaping products in the U.K.—BAT (Vuse Bar), Imperial (Blu bar) and PMI (VEEBA), for example—advise consumers not to put them in household waste and offer free returns services on their websites. This information is displayed on the webpages where these items are sold. Consumers who don’t buy these products online need to read the package insert. They are advised that the product should not be placed in household waste but collected separately for recovery and recycling. The package insert also directs users to the manufacturer’s website for details of its recycling program. Whether consumers ever read these inserts is open to debate!
Independent U.K. brands are not far behind either; Riot Bar and Blo Bar have also introduced comprehensive recycling schemes. Blo also offers consumers one free Blo Bar for every 10 disposable vapes of any brand sent to them for recycling. Most online retailers in the U.K. offer disposal and recycling advice, and VPZ, the U.K.’s largest vaping retailer, has announced that it is introducing a comprehensive return and recycling program in its stores before the end of March.
Patwardhan: It sounds like manufacturers are, in theory, offering the recycling option to consumers. Do we know if consumers know that these options exist? Perhaps there is an education piece that needs to be carried out by key actors in the supply chain, including manufacturers, as well as by the broader regulatory agencies? Do the regulators need to intervene, or does the industry need to act? Or both, and others?
John Dunne
Dunne: Recycling vapes is not straightforward and needs collaboration between adult vapers, retailers, manufacturers, regulators and companies in the waste management sector, which are involved in the current Producer Compliance Schemes under the WEEE regulations. We are liaising with DEFRA [U.K. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs] and the Office for Product Safety and Standards and calling upon our members and the wider industry to innovate products that are easier to recycle.
Patwardhan: Talking about multi-stakeholder initiatives, we are on the cusp of another VApril, an annual British feature in April to showcase vaping as a means to stop smoking. As we have seen with a series of successive publications from U.K. health and related authorities and charities—e.g., the 2016 Royal College of Physicians’ Nicotine Without Smoke report—e-cigarettes/vapes are a potential force for good by helping smokers quit smoking. The THR creds of e-cigarettes in the context of current adult smokers are not in doubt. However, this emerging narrative on environmental harms from disposable vapes presents a unique challenge to those in public health and policy, does it not, Pieter?
Pieter Vorster
Vorster: Indeed, Sud. To date, opponents of tobacco harm reduction have often relied on questionable science that is unlikely to withstand rigorous evaluation, as evidenced by numerous retractions in recent years. On the other hand, the science underlying the potential environmental and health risks posed by the inappropriate disposal of reduced-risk products isn’t subject to the same constraints. Furthermore, the emotional appeal for the “environmental harms” narrative from these products has a much broader and vocal activist constituency—thus threatening to undermine the public health arguments of THR. In short, it represents a potentially potent weaponizable tool for those opposed to THR.
Patwardhan: I can see that the recent developments in Scotland, where an environmental activist highlighted the problem of vape littering, and separately, the decision of a large British supermarket chain to stop selling disposable vapes, signal a change in public perception and attitudes toward the product. It is as if an argument is being built in this narrative about disposables being harmful to the environment and are a lost cause as such, as well as the anecdotal observation that disposables are used by a much younger cohort, possibly those underage as well as those who have never smoked cigarettes before. If true, surely that is one issue to address through stronger regulations, especially with regards to preventing youth access and mandatory recycling requirements and refund schemes, right?
Dunne: Preventing the sale of vaping products to minors is one of the industry’s most fundamental challenges, and our members are united behind this goal. We have recently updated our “Preventing Underage Sales Guide” to give retailers all the information they need so they don’t inadvertently sell to someone under 18. However, we need the support of the government, regulators and enforcement authorities to ensure that unscrupulous retailers who knowingly sell to young people face the full force of the law. We believe that there is a need for increased fines for rogue traders, licensing of vape retailers and a national test purchase scheme. In fact, the UKVIA’s Youth Access Prevention Task Force will propose so to regulators this month. Regarding e-waste, the industry also recognizes its environmental responsibilities, and we are working with regulators, waste management experts, product manufacturers and retailers to find a workable solution.
Patwardhan: This is a most fascinating discussion where we find innovative 21st century nicotine products that have huge positive public health potential getting caught into an orthogonal field of great import in global public policy: sustainability and environment. In concert, responsible behavior by industry and retailers, better regulation and enforcement—and not prohibition—and consumer adoption of e-waste management solutions may well be the answer. In fact, we can go one step further and challenge all stakeholders—industry, regulators, public health and consumers—to embrace proactive e-waste management as another opportunity to reduce harms from a transforming tobacco and nicotine products’ landscape whilst maximizing the societal benefits from this shift in consumer behaviors.
A lawmaker in Scotland is calling for a ban on disposable vapes “after Scotland’s streets became a plastic dumping ground.”
Green MSP Gillian Mackay said city parks have become clogged up by disposable plastic vaping products, which experts say are a threat to children’s health and a menace to wildlife and she will urge the Government to introduce a ban on disposable plastic vapes.
Mackay warned the single-use devices were turning up more and more on streets and in beach clean-ups – and claimed they could become “the cotton bud of their time,” according to the Daily Record.
It comes after the Scottish Government last year banned most types of single-use plastics as part of efforts to shift to a “circular economy” with fewer items wasted. But disposable e-cigarettes weren’t affected, and they’ve exploded in popularity since 2021 with a 14-fold increase in their use among vapers over more eco-friendly rechargeable products.
Research last year found 1.3 million single-use vapes are being discarded every week in the UK, enough to cover 22 football pitches – an average of two thrown away every second.
Recycling the products is also tricky as inside the plastic are valuable lithium batteries. Campaigners say the number of batteries chucked away would be enough to power 1200 electric cars.
A group of cyber specialists is repurposing batteries from used e-cigarettes into power banks for frontline soldiers in places like forests and trenches with no access to electricity.
Working in a generator-powered office just outside Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, the volunteers work day and night to make the products that are in scarce supply, according to Channel News Asia.
“We collected electronic cigarettes (and) inside turned out to be a completely normal rechargeable lithium battery, which has its own cycle and even has a capacity higher than it says on the case,” said IT specialist Ivan Volynets, who founded Power Kit, the company producing the power banks.
“We were very surprised and decided that if we could keep collecting them, we could then make power banks and provide soldiers with these devices.”
Volunteers have so far collected more than five tons of used e-cigarettes for repurposing.
They are assisted by Ukrainian delivery service Nova Poshta, which ships discarded vaping devices to Power Kit for free.
IT specialist Dmytro said each power bank stores enough energy to fully charge a typical phone up to five times. “It also works for other equipment such as drones and radios,” he added.
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is calling upon its members and the wider industry to innovate products that make them easier to recycle for the waste management sector.
The move comes as pressure mounts to ban single-use disposable devices.
On Jan. 3. upmarket supermarket chain Waitrose announced a complete withdrawal from the single use vapes market. “Selling single use vapes is not something we could justify given the impact on both the environment and the health of young people,” said Commercial Director Charlotte Di Cello.
While environmental campaigners applauded the move, vaping advocates said Waitrose could do more to protect both public health and the planet by instead refusing to sell combustible cigarettes, which are the world’s most littered item.
Just five days later, Scottish PhD student Laura Young made national headlines in the U.K. when a video she posted on Twitter of her collecting 55 discarded disposable vapes while out walking her dog went viral.
Young, who goes by the Twitter handle @LessWasteLaura, gained public support when she posted two more follow-up posts and called for single-use vapes to be banned.
Following the publicity surrounding her anti-disposable campaign, the Scottish Government said it was “considering the emerging issues around single-use disposable vapes’ and urged consumers to dispose of them responsibly.”
We are working to find a waste management solution that minimizes the impact of vapes on the environment so they are seen for what they do best—helping adult smokers kick their habits.
According to the UKVIA, as campaigns like this gain traction, it may be only a matter of time before regulators decide to look closer at the disposable sector of the vape market.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne said that while the vaping industry recognizes its responsibilities to the environment, the recycling of vapes requires collaboration between adult vapers, retailers, manufacturers, the regulators and companies in the waste management sector, which are involved in the current producer compliance schemes under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.
“Up to now there has been genuine confusion amongst the vaping sector about their responsibilities under the WEEE directive,” said Dunne in a statement. “Earlier this year the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment alluded to uncertainty around whether regulations covered the type of batteries found in vapes and also questioned the recycling infrastructure in place to support the sector to be more sustainable.
“This is why we are working hard as an industry to find a waste management solution that minimizes the impact of vapes on the environment, particularly when it comes to single use disposables, so they are seen for what they do best—helping adult smokers kick their habits and save the lives of millions as well as millions of pounds for the health service.”
Environmentally safer vapes are becoming popular as concerns over e-waste from vaping products grows. FEELM, the atomization technology platform belonging to Smoore, the world’s largest vape manufacturer, announced its new sustainable product series will be called FUTURE.
“FUTURE has been well-received in recent vaping exhibitions across Europe, and it demonstrates FEELM’s commitment to providing an environmentally friendly vaping solution,” a press release states.
FEELM uses a “product as the package” design that integrates FUTURE’s body and packaging, and uses recyclable paper rather than plastic. The device itself mostly contains post-consumer recycled (PCR) material or bio-based materials instead of its traditional counterparts This reducing plastic use by 60 percent and carbon emissions by 52 percent to 58 percent, according to FEELM.
FUTURE is designed to be disassembled and recycled with ease. Users can separate the internal components of the device, such as the battery core, plastic, and e-liquid tank, and recycle them separately, according to Totom Lu,director of FEELM’s design team.
“The series is our latest sustainable design concept, aiming to make it easier for consumers to dismantle and dispose of products responsibly, whilst solving the environmental problems caused by littering,” said Lu.
Environmental responsibility has become an industry priority in recent years. A study by Material Focus has shown that as many as 1.3 million devices using up to 10 tons of lithium are discarded each week. This is the equivalent to the battery use of 1,200 electric cars, according to Material Focus.
“Creating a solution to this is therefore vital, particularly as battery disposal regulations look set to change in the coming years,” the release states. “In the EU for example, disposable vapes will need to have removable and interchangeable batteries by 2025 at the earliest, according to the recently approved draft battery regulation.”
FEELM states that countries need to improve the collection and recycling of electronic equipment, and to make it easier for consumers to properly dispose of their vapes, regardless of manufacturer or brand. It would welcome any initiative that could standardize the free collection of disposable vapes at the point of sale, as well as awareness initiatives to educate consumers on the importance of recycling their devices properly.
“FEELM’s ESG team conducted a full life cycle analysis (LCA) of disposable vapes and established a product carbon footprint analysis model to identify the major sources of carbon emissions relating to disposable vapes, allowing for further carbon reduction,” the release states.
FEELM recently won the “Best Innovation Award” and was commended in the “Sustainable Vaping Award” category at the UK Vaping Industry Association’s recent conference. Smoore has been ranked as the global leader in the vaping industry by Sustainalytics and the MSCI.
RLX Technology has released its annual corporate social responsibility report Envisaging a Better Future, highlighting its efforts in market responsibility, research and development investment, environment protection, employees career and corporate governance.
According to the report, RLX has strengthened its commitment to product quality and vaping science. Since its inception, RLX has invested RMB800 million ($111.1 million) in research and development. RLX operates eight laboratories and has developed a research chain covering product quality, physiochemical research, toxicology research, long-term impact assessment and clinical research.
In March 2021, RLX launched the first e-cigarette clinical research project in China. In February 2022, RLX started the first clinical study on the safety of e-cigarettes in China. The results of various research projects were published in prominent academic journals such as Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and the Chinese Journal of Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment.
By June 2022, RLX had applied for over 610 patents covering vaping device design, e-liquid formula, electric control, smart device and released content.
Environment protection is another highlight in RLX’s CSR report. In September 2021, RLX started the Pods Reborn recycling program with China Siyuan Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. By June 2022, the program had been carried out in 188 Chinese cities. More than 16,000 stores have been equipped with a used pods recycling bin.
As part of the Amur Tiger and Leopard Conservation Project, RLX has planted 20 ha of eco-fields in Jilin Province to ensure sufficient food supply for these endangered species. RLX has also organized a patrol team to remove animal traps. By the end of 2021, the RLX Tech Patrol Team had patrolled 12,600 kilometers.
In April 2022, RLX launched its net-zero carbon emission plan Aim for Zero to achieve carbon neutrality in its direct operations by 2033 and along the value chain by 2050.
As part of this project, RLX will take eight major initiatives including plastic reduction, waste reduction, promoting the Pods Reborn program, establishing a green supply chain partner mechanism, reducing product carbon footprint and introducing zero-carbon products, creating a zero-carbon plant and a green store and reducing carbon footprint in office and during business travel.
By the end of 2021, RLX had opened more than 24,000 stores in more than 300 cities, creating about 370,000 jobs across the industry chain.
“In more than four years of entrepreneurship, one of the things we are particularly proud of is our dedication to fulfilling our social responsibility,” said Kate Wang, founder and CEO of RLX Tech in a statement. “RLX Tech sees social responsibility as one of its core competitive advantages. It is also our duty as corporate citizens.”
The newly expanded e-scrap recycling program signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom will not include vaping products. AB 2440 and SB 1215 set up an extended producer responsibility program for loose batteries and added battery-embedded products to the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003.
Newsom signed the bills Sept. 16 as part of a package of climate-related bills, according to Resource Recycling.
Under SB 1215, consumers will be required to pay an electronic waste recycling fee upon the purchase of certain new or refurbished products starting Jan. 1, 2026. However, a covered battery-embedded product is one containing a battery “that is not intended to be easily removed from the product by the consumer with no more than commonly used household tools,” the bill’s text states, excluding medical devices, energy storage systems and electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products.
“This month has been a wake-up call for all of us that later is too late to act on climate change. California isn’t waiting any more,” Newsom said in the press release. “Together with the Legislature, California is taking the most aggressive action on climate our nation has ever seen.”
