By John Dillon, VP Marketing Superfy, 23 November 2023
Look around your office and take stock of the rechargeable devices powering your day — laptops, phones, wireless keyboards, etc. Now, consider the e-cigarettes and vapes that many of your employees likely use and the disposable components like atomisers, cartridges and batteries that get tossed when performance starts to wane. As leaders focused on sustainability and corporate responsibility, it’s time to examine the environmental impact of e-cigarettes by asking the question: is vaping bad for the environment?
This guide explores the environmental destruction caused by vaping and outlines sustainable e-cigarette recycling solutions to solve this emerging crisis. The future of our planet depends on the actions of leaders like you — request a demo today to learn how Superfy can help your enterprise achieve sustainable e-waste management!
Outline
Is Vaping Bad for the Environment? (Short Answer)
The Growing Popularity of Vaping and E-Cigarettes
The Environmental Impact of Vaping and E-Cigarette Waste
Sustainability Solutions: How Superfy Helps Enterprises Reduce Their Environmental Impact
Is Vaping Bad for the Environment? (Short Answer)
Like several synthetic products, vaping is bad for the environment if not disposed of in the right way. From the plastics and heavy metals used in device construction to the toxic e-liquids and emissions, vaping is creating a new waste stream that is polluting our planet. It’s a sobering reality, but one you must consider and act upon as stewards of your organisation and community. The good news is there are steps you can take to curb this threat and limit the damage. But first, you need to understand the scale and scope of the problem.
The Growing Popularity of Vaping and E-Cigarettes
E-cigarettes, also known as vapes or vape pens, have surged in popularity in recent years, with Americans throwing out 4.5 vapes per second. These battery-powered devices heat a liquid into an aerosol mist, which the user inhales. The liquid typically contains nicotine, flavourings, and other chemicals.
Although vaping is bad for the environment, e-cigarette and vape use has skyrocketed globally, especially among youth and young adults. The CDC reports that 2.55 million middle and high school students in the US used e-cigarettes in 2022.
The aerosol from e-cigarettes is not just water vapour but contains harmful chemicals like acrolein, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. Although vaping may be less harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes in some ways, it still poses health risks.
With the popularity of discreet, high-tech vape pens and a wide array of sweet e-liquid flavours targeting young people, some governments and health organisations are calling for bans on e-cigarette flavours and marketing, as well as stricter regulations on these products.
The Environmental Impact of Vaping and E-Cigarette Waste
E-cigarettes and vapes may seem like a greener alternative to smoking, but they still damage the environment in significant ways.
Here are 3 concerning impacts of e-cigarettes and vapes:
- Air pollution and climate change
- Hazardous waste
- Impact on wildlife
1. Air Pollution and Climate Change
Vaping produces emissions that contribute to both air pollution and climate change. The aerosol from e-cigarettes contains ultrafine particles that can enter the lungs and bloodstream, and the solvents produce volatile organic compounds that create ozone. Studies show e-cigarette vapour contains toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein.
While vaping may produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than smoking cigarettes, the e-cigarette industry is still responsible for a sizable carbon footprint from manufacturing, packaging, and shipping products and e-liquids around the globe. The emissions from this supply chain can contribute to climate change.
2. Hazardous Waste
Used vape pens, e-cigarette cartridges, and disposable e-cigarettes all end up in landfills where the batteries and circuit boards can leach toxic heavy metals like lead into soil and groundwater. Nicotine from discarded e-liquid bottles also poses dangers to wildlife and the environment. This is largely due to the low adoption of proper collection, recycling, and disposal of this e-waste. To learn more about how to effectively recycle disposable vapes, check out our recent blog post.
3. Impact on Wildlife
The nicotine and chemicals in vapes and e-liquids pose severe risks to animals that ingest them. Birds, fish, and mammals can experience nicotine poisoning, and the solvents and flavourings also have adverse effects. Improper disposal of vape products increases the likelihood of animals consuming these hazardous substances.
While vaping may be a safer alternative for smokers, its environmental footprint can’t be ignored. Reducing overall usage, properly disposing of materials, and pushing for industry-wide e-waste recycling practices can help lessen the damage. The future of our planet depends on greener technology and increased adoption of eco-friendly consumer choices.
Sustainability Solutions: How Superfy Helps Enterprises Reduce Their Environmental Impact
Vaping is bad for the environment, and as an enterprise with a concern for our planet’s future, reducing your environmental impact should be a top priority. Superfy’s sustainability solutions help enterprises achieve this goal by focusing on a circular approach to their vape products, using a dedicated vape collection container with temperature alerts, as well as optimised collections, dynamic route planning, and data-driven insights.
1. Circular Product Focus
More recycling leads to more materials being reused for product manufacture and reduces the need for virgin raw materials from the earth. By designing products with end-of-life in mind, organisations, including vape manufacturers, can provide a significant benefit to the environment.
2. Dedicated Vape Collection
With our dedicated vape collection solution container, vapes can be collected in a safe and efficient way. Features like the fill level sensor provide operational efficiency, more recycling, and reduce the number of vapes going to landfills. Also, the temperature sensor sends out activity-based alerts to limit fire hazard incidences.
3. Dynamic Route Planning
Superfy’s algorithm optimises your collection routes to reduce fuel usage and emissions. We analyse factors like traffic data, collection bin sensors, and historical collection patterns to determine the most efficient route sequence and schedule. This helps decrease your fleet’s mileage significantly, reducing your carbon footprint. We also help you save costs, as in the case of Ecobatt, where we help reduce operational costs for 14,000 collections of 1,000 tonnes of batteries across more than 5,000 collection points.
4. Data-Driven Insights
Superfy provides data visualisations and reports on waste diversion rates, waste and recycling collection efficiency, your fleet’s environmental impact, as well as metrics on fuel usage and emissions. Using this data, you can make targeted improvements to your operations and track your progress over time. For example, if certain routes are producing higher emissions, you can adjust the collection schedule or truck type to counteract that. Data-driven insights also help with ESG reporting and the ability to measure performance improvements in recycling rates while highlighting geographical areas for more awareness and education campaigns
By leveraging Superfy’s sustainability solutions, enterprises can meaningfully decrease its environmental impact through reduced emissions, lower fuel usage, higher waste diversion rates, and greener operations. Our technology and data-driven approach provide the insights and tools you need to optimise your operations, track your progress, and achieve your sustainability goals. Book a demo now for more info on Superfy’s vape and e-cigarette collection, disposal, and recycling solutions for enterprises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is smoking bad for the environment?
Yes, smoking is indeed harmful to the environment and poses health risks to humans.
Cigarette butts are the most littered item worldwide—with 766,571 metric tons making their way to the environment—and can take up to 10 years to decompose, releasing toxins into the water and soil. The production process of tobacco also contributes to deforestation and uses harmful pesticides. Moreover, secondhand smoke can also contribute to air pollution. So, in many ways, smoking is detrimental to our environment.
Which is worse for the environment, smoking or vaping?
Both smoking and vaping have significant environmental impacts, but they differ in type and severity.
Traditional smoking’s environmental toll is primarily seen in the production and disposal of cigarettes. This process contributes to deforestation, water pollution, and littering, with cigarette butts being a major source of litter worldwide — 1,134,292 units were discovered from cleaning up waterways and beaches around the world in 2021.
On the other hand, vaping poses a different kind of environmental concern, mainly related to electronic waste (e-waste). Vapes are considered hazardous waste due to their nicotine and battery content. Moreover, e-cigarette waste contains metals, circuitries, disposable plastic cartridges, batteries, and toxic chemicals in e-liquids that can leak toxic materials into the environment if not properly disposed of. Additionally, e-cigarettes contribute to indoor air pollution, leading to a decline in indoor air quality.
So, in essence, both practices have unique environmental issues, and it’s challenging to state which one is worse definitively.
Does vaping pollute the air?
Yes, vaping does contribute to air pollution.
While e-cigarettes may produce fewer toxins than traditional cigarettes, they do release aerosols into the air. These aerosols contain nicotine and other potentially harmful chemicals, which can contaminate the air around the user. In enclosed spaces, this can lead to a decline in indoor air quality. However, it’s important to note that the overall environmental impact of vaping, including air pollution, is a complex issue and is currently an active area of research.
How many vapes go to landfill?
Globally, close to 844 million vapes are dumped yearly, with Europe accounting for 55% of total e-waste collected. A staggering 5 million single-use vapes are discarded every week in the UK, representing a 4x increase from 2022. In the US, 150 million vapes are being discarded yearly, while Canada produced close to 1 million tonnes of e-waste in 2020.
Conclusion
So, is vaping bad for the environment? In summary, yes, it is. The reason is that disposable e-cigarettes and vaping pens contain plastic, metals and electronic components that leach chemicals as they break down in landfills or the natural environment. Enterprises have the power and responsibility to enact proper e-cigarette and vape collection, disposal, and recycling policies that can help protect our planet. Contact us or request a demo for more details on Superfy’s smart waste management solutions for vapes and e-cigarettes.