Disposable vapes causing a fire a day at in the UK six months after ban

Major waste companies have warned that improper disposal of e-cigarettes is the equivalent of more than one fire a day, despite a disposable vape ban coming into force six months ago.

Waste management firm Suez told the BBC it had seen 339 fires at more than 300 sites it operates this year.

Improper disposal of e-cigarettes can lead to dangerous explosions when crushed by trucks, causing serious harm to waste workers, the environment and equipment, as well as disrupting services.

This is because e-cigarettes contain lithium batteries that can catch fire if crushed.

A ban on disposable e-cigarettes was introduced this summer in order to reduce the sale of e-cigarettes to children and the amount of waste created by disposable e-cigarettes.

But waste companies have warned that a lack of awareness means consumers will throw away their new devices anyway.

Suez’s head of sustainability and external affairs, Adam Read, told the BBC that “electronic cigarettes are still a very common sight being thrown into streets, bins and recycling centers across the country”.

He said: “The ban was an important first step, but the reality is that it has proven to be a sticky solution to the mountain of vapes thrown into our garbage every day.”

In October, Biffa, the country’s largest waste management company, said an average of 7,000 e-cigarettes per day (equivalent to almost 300 e-cigarettes per hour) were entering its recycling and waste centres.

open image in gallery

Since the disposable vape ban came into force this summer, the company said it had seen an increase in the number of vapes of all types at its four major sites in Teeside, Walsall, Ipswich and North London.

In April and May, Craig Konczak, Business Director for Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) and PRFs at Biffa, said four of its busiest MRFs processed a total of 401,000 incorrectly discarded e-cigarettes.

In August and September, this number increased to 447,000. Spot sampling over two shifts at Aldridge showed that 78 percent of the e-cigarettes found were rechargeable. There were also 31 more fires at MRFs between June and September.

Mr Konczak said: “The ban on the sale of disposable e-cigarettes from June 1 was intended to help keep batteries out of bins, but the culture of convenience persists – with many smokers continuing to throw away rechargeable e-cigarettes just as quickly.

“They are inexpensive, and combined with the limited availability of replacement parts, it is often easier to throw them away and buy new.”

Consumers should recycle e-cigarettes and batteries at stores or recycling centers rather than throwing them in the trash. All retailers selling e-cigarettes in the UK are required to recycle the old one.