E-Cigarette Waste: A Growing Environmental Threat
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E-Cigarettes are often touted as a sustainable alternative to conventional cigarettes, but are they really?
With cigarette smoking rates declining, e-cigarettes are becoming more popular than ever. Sales of e-cigarettes (otherwise known as e-cigs, vapes or vape pens) have boomed in recent years, often being marketed as a safer and more environmentally sustainable alternative to cigarette smoking.
However, poor waste management, coupled with a lack of clear recycling guidelines and infrastructure for consumers makes the sustainability claims of e-cigarette companies shaky at best.
What are e-cigarettes made of, anyway?
A typical e-cigarette contains a heating element, a microprocessor and circuitry, battery, and a plastic cartridge filled with "e-juice"; a liquid usually containing nicotine, flavourings and other chemicals. These cartridges are often single-use and are non-recyclable in municipal facilities.
While the makeup of these electronic devices is vastly different from the “conventional” cigarettes that we’re used to, they have at least one thing in common: plastic.
At first glance, conventional cigarettes look like they could be made out of paper, cotton or other biodegradable materials. However, their filters are actually made up of approximately 12,000 cellulose acetate microfibres tightly woven together.
You may have already guessed it, but cellulose acetate is a type of plastic. Because of this, cigarette butts can take between 18 months and 10 years to fully break down, polluting our soil and waterways with microplastics and leached chemicals in the process.
Cigarette butts are the most common piece of litter found worldwide, with an estimated 4.5 trillion of them littered each year. To date, A Greener Future volunteers have picked up more than 2.6 million cigarette butts in Canada alone, through initiatives like the Butt Blitz.
While the rates of e-cigarette litter are far lower than that of regular cigarettes, concerns are mounting over the inefficient waste management systems currently in place for e-cigarettes.
Poor Waste Management
At the end of their lifecycle, e-cigarettes are considered electronic waste, making them harder and more costly to handle at waste facilities since they require disassembling, sorting, and rinsing before the parts can be recycled.
Not only are the logistics around recycling tricky, but most e-cigarettes don’t make it to electronics recycling facilities in the first place.
According to research done by the Truth Initiative, 51% of young cigarette users reported disposing their used e-cigarette cartridges in the garbage, 17% disposed of them in a recycling bin (not designed for cigarette waste), and 10% reported throwing them on the ground.
Another study done by the Truth Initiative revealed that 57.8% of users that had vaped in the past 30 days found it inconvenient to dispose of their e-cigarette waste responsibly. Meanwhile, only 15% of young e-cigarette users reported disposing of their devices or accessories by sending them for electronic recycling.
This data may be unsurprising given that e-cigarette manufacturers often provide little or no information on how to properly dispose of their devices, or accessories like batteries and cartridges.
Environmental Impact
These inefficiencies in waste management lead to e-cigarette litter ending up in our natural environment. The metallic elements on e-cigarettes cause the most damage, as they contain heavy metals and can leach into nearby waterways and the surrounding soil. These metals often include mercury and lead in the circuitry and heating element, as well as battery acid. This contamination can cause untold damage to our environment, as well as having a detrimental impact on human health.
In addition to chemical contamination, the cartridges and e-cigarette parts are a choking hazard to large fish, marine animals, and birds. The amount of waste is becoming more concerning due to the large number of users. The US is the largest market for e-cigarettes, which was valued at 15.05 billion USD in 2020 and is expected to see a compounded annual growth rate of 28% between 2021 and 2028. This trend indicates that e-cigarette waste is going to be a growing problem due to its complex design.
As e-cigarettes grow in popularity, manufacturers must implement better waste management strategies and circular policies to curb the e-waste caused by the industry.
Consumers also have a role to play. If you are an e-cigarette user, here are some things you can do to help…
Learn how to safely dispose of or recycle your device in your local area
If disposal instructions are unclear, reach out to the manufacturer and ask
If electronic recycling is not available for your device, reach out to the manufacturer and your local government to express your concerns
Talk to other e-cigarette users about proper disposal
Visit our Action Hub to learn more about electronic waste.