Major waste companies have warned the incorrect disposal of vapes are causing the equivalent of more than one fire a day – despite a ban on disposable vapes coming into place six months ago.
Waste management firm Suez told the BBC it had seen 339 fires across the more than 300 sites it runs this year.
The incorrect disposal of vapes can lead to dangerous explosions when crushed by lorries, posing serious harm to waste workers, the environment, and equipment, as well as disrupting services.
This is because the vapes contain lithium batteries which can catch fire if crushed.
A ban on disposable vapes came into place this summer, in an attempt to reduce the sale of vapes to children and the amount of waste disposable vapes were creating.
However, waste companies have warned a lack of awareness means consumers are throwing away their new devices anyway.
Adam Read, chief sustainability and external affairs officer at Suez told the BBC that “vapes are still an all-too-common sight dumped on the street, in bins and at recycling centres across the country”.
He said: “The ban was an important first step, but the reality is it has proved to be a sticking-plaster solution to the mountain of vapes which end up in our rubbish every day.”
In October, the country’s largest waste management company, Biffa, said that on average, 7,000 vapes a day – equivalent to almost 300 vapes an hour – enter its recycling and waste centres.
Since the disposable vape ban came into force this summer, the company said it has seen an increase in all types of vapes across four of its major sites in Teeside, Walsall, Ipswich and North London.
During April and May, Craig Konczak, Business Director of Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) and PRFs at Biffa, said four of it’s busiest MRFs handled a total of 401,000 incorrectly discarded vapes.
During August and September, this rose to 447,000. Spot sampling over two shifts at Aldridge showed 78 per cent of the vapes found were the rechargeable type. It also further 31 fires broke out at its MRFs between June and September.
Mr Konczak said: “The ban on the sale of single use vapes from June 1 was meant to help keep batteries out of bins, but convenience culture persists – many smokers continue to discard rechargeable vapes just as quickly.
“They’re not expensive and, coupled with a limited availability of replacement parts, it’s often easier to just throw them away and buy a new one.”
Consumers should recycle vapes in store or at a recycling centre instead of binning the battery. All retailers that sell vapes in the UK must take back your old one to recycle.
