Every time a store sells a single-use vape, it's contributing to one of the fastest-growing forms of e-waste. Millions of single-use devices are discarded after a few thousand puffs, which can be used up quickly by frequent users.
The vapes then typically end up in landfills and harm human health while warming the planet. Luckily, as reported by Wired, a group of hackers from New York City has found a way to give these devices a second life,
According to Wired, Kari Love and David Rios from New York University and Shuang Cai from Cornell University created what they call the "Vape Synth," a digital instrument built from used Elf Bar vapes.
"We started from a very silly place," Love said. "We have to use the low-pressure sensor. Which means to play it, you must suck."
According to the report, the team keeps the original battery and charging circuit, then adds a speaker, buttons, and a small circuit board to generate tones. Repurposing vape batteries can reduce the amount of e-waste in methane-emitting landfills, which contribute to warming temperatures, unpredictable weather, and pressure communities to keep up with it all. To make matters worse, methane is 28 times more polluting to the Earth than carbon dioxide.
"You see them everywhere. They have the lithium-ion batteries, which makes them particularly insidious in the disposable tech world," Love said.
According to Cai, inspiring others to take creative actions is the goal, and there are other innovators taking action.
For example, researchers have developed fully biodegradable printed circuit boards designed to break down at the end of their lifespan. There's a project that upcycles old smartphones into data center components, described as "a new way of thinking about the old." Extending the life of e-waste in general will do far more good than tossing it into the trash.
"Ideally, we would change that paradigm and make less waste," Love told Wired. "But while we're making that much waste, let's divert some of it. Let's use it."
You can learn more about repurposing containers, packaging, and more to produce less waste from your own home. You can also look into ways to make money from your old electronics to reduce e-waste in your home and in our landfills.
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