Volunteers raise red flags after finding harmful items that are supposed to be banned: 'Very damaging'

Volunteer litter-pickers are still finding disposable vapes among the trash, even though they've been banned in the U.K. since June.

According to the Midlothian View, the Dalkeith Guerrilla Gardeners are avid gardeners who also organize trash pickups. While they are seeing fewer disposable vapes than they used to, they are still picking up quite a few of them.

One member of the group, Ken Cramond, explained to the Midlothian View, "There have been allegations of some still on sale despite being illegal since June. It may be we are just finding ones sold earlier. Time will tell."

Disposable vapes are a big problem, both for daily life and for the planet. According to the Scottish Sun, people are paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to replace tires damaged by disposable vapes that were carelessly discarded in roadways.

That's beyond the eyesore that litter, including these vapes, can become. And smoking the vapes is harmful, even if some people think it isn't.

When it comes to the planet, people in the U.S. are throwing away about 500,000 vapes each day, per U.S. PIRG. At least some of those end up in landfills, where they can leach chemicals from both the plastic and what's inside the vape into both water and soil.

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Even when they get recycled, getting rid of these things takes a lot of resources. When they aren't recycled, they can be "very damaging to the environment and take many decades to break down," as Cramond shared. They can harm animals, too, as neither the plastic nor what's inside the vape is good for other creatures.

If you want to get rid of trash from these vapes, try electing politicians who will make them illegal. After all, less disposable vape trash is better, even if these bans don't end up eliminating it all.

Do you think the government should ban gas-powered lawn tools?

No way 🙅