A major waste firm has warned that wrongly discarded vapes are still causing fires in its rubbish trucks and waste facilities, six months on since disposable vapes were banned.
Suez, which runs more than 300 waste management sites around the UK, said it had seen 339 fires this year, more than one a day, putting workers in danger and causing damage worth millions of pounds.
Vapes contain lithium batteries which can catch fire if crushed or damaged in the waste stream.
The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) said the number of vapes sold had halved since the ban, but called for greater consumer education about disposing of them responsibly.
The ban on disposable vapes came into force in the UK on 1 June, with the aim of curbing sales to children and reducing the number of devices being littered or incorrectly thrown away.
Six months on “vapes are still an all-too-common sight dumped on the street, in bins and at recycling centres across the country”, said Adam Read, chief sustainability and external affairs officer at Suez, which handles waste for 50 local councils.
“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.”
Vapes should not be put in general waste or recycling, but disposed of in specialised recycling bins which can be found in shops or recycling centres.
But Suez and Biffa have said people are still treating reusable vapes as disposable, and binning them after one or two uses.
In September, fellow waste firm Biffa warned despite the ban being in place for three months at the time, it was seeing more vapes being incorrectly thrown away, causing more fires, than ever before.
Some manufacturers offer products which look very similar to the most popular disposable vape models, come in similar packets, and sell for similar prices.
But because they have a recharging port and a replaceable tank for nicotine-containing liquid, they count as reusable and can still be legally sold.
In addition, single-use vapes are still being sold illegally, and contributing to the waste problem. Last month the government announced a crackdown on retailers selling illegal vapes, with the threat of £10,000 fines and prison sentences.
Suez called for a more ambitious plan to tackle the fire risk and environmental damage from cheap throwaway vapes, such as a nationwide recycling scheme paid for by producers.
Marcus Saxton, chair of the IBVTA said that according to figures from Nielsen IQ, 7.2m rechargeable and refillable devices were sold in October, compared to 16.2m single-use vapes per month sold last year before the ban.
It said it “applauds this action but equally recognises the continued need for greater consumer education around how to responsibly recycle both used single-use devices purchased pre-ban, and well as refillable devices which have reached their end of life”.
Doncaster Council now offers kerbside collections for vapes and household batteries, to make it easier for residents to recycle them, and reduce the numbers being incorrectly thrown away.
A government spokesperson said: “Single-use vapes get kids hooked on nicotine and blight our high streets – it’s why we’ve taken tough action and banned them.
“We’re working with Trading Standards and local authorities to enforce the ban and have made it compulsory for all vape retailers to provide recycling bins, with 10,500 takeback bins introduced in UK stores since April.”
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