Five million single-use vapes are thrown away in the UK every week, an almost four-fold increase on last year, according to research from Material Focus.
The not-for-profit campaigners said the potential yearly cost of collecting and recycling vapes now stands at £200m.
Local authorities are ‘being burdened with the major operational and financial headaches’ associated with the waste stream, Scott Butler, executive director at Material Focus, said.
Under the Government’s delayed extended producer responsibility (EPR) plans, the cost of dealing with waste would be transferred to producers, importers and retailers.
For the first time, 16- and 17-year-olds were included in Material Focus’ survey of UK adults to identify how many single-use vapes are bought and how they are disposed.
The survey found that the number of single-use vapes thrown away has soared since last year, from 1.3 million to nearly 5 million per week.
Of those surveyed, 73% said they throw away single-use vapes, with just 17% saying they recycle the e-cigarettes in a shop or local recycling centre.
70% of respondents said they throw the vapes away because they did not know they could recycle them.
With the number of battery-related waste fires on the rise, Alix Bedford, risk expert at public sector risk management provider Zurich Municipal, said: ‘Incorrectly disposed of vapes are sparking fires in council bin lorries and at waste processing sites, causing costly damage and disruption to waste management services, and putting workers’ lives at risk.’
Donald Macphail, chief operating officer for treatment at waste management solutions provider Veolia UK, said: ‘The Environment Agency has set a 55% recycling target for vapes, but at the moment the UK is far from achieving that goal.
‘To increase this, we need to build a stronger policy and legislation position to encourage eco design and new recycling investment – and fast.
‘We need to create a new individual EEE [electrical and electronic equipment] product category for vapes and ensure all manufacturers are signed up to the obligated producers list to properly implement the “producer pays” model.’
