A post on Reddit's r/whatisthisthing brought attention to both the scale and confusion surrounding a little-known but big issue: disposable vape pollution.
A user from the UK uploaded photos of a dense, plastic-coated tube with a threaded tip and a black hole at the end. The object, roughly an inch long, was dug up from their backyard.
"I was doing some gardening in my 1950s house in the UK when I pulled this out of the dirt, not too deep down. There is already quite a lot of junk buried a foot or something down under the soil," the poster wrote.
It didn't take much digging for commenters to figure it out, with one saying it's not quite as old as the depth at which it was found might suggest: "Certainly looks like an ecig cartridge," they said, though the commenters generally agreed it was an older model.
"It's definitely this. I used to vape these initially when I quit smoking, and there were cartridges that looked exactly like a filter tip," another Redditor commented. "They were specifically called cartomizers."
This vaping relic is far from rare. Vape waste has become a growing global problem: Americans alone throw out 4.5 disposable vapes every second.
According to the CDC foundation's sales estimates, if lined up, the number of vapes sold in a year would span the continental U.S. twice.
The Reddit post's presence on r/whatisthisthing points to a key issue: Many people don't even recognize vape waste when they see it, let alone know how to dispose of it. Nearly half of young vape users (49.1%) say they don't know what to do with used vape pods or pens.
Vape waste leaches metals and plastics into soil and waterways, and vape debris can pose health and environmental risks, as they introduce nicotine salts, heavy metals, lead, mercury, and flammable lithium-ion batteries.
According to the Truth Initiative, the nation's largest nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction, to safely dispose of e-cigarettes, users should check with local hazardous waste programs or remove the battery for recycling and bring the remaining device to designated take-back events.
At the end of the day, one fewer vape in a landfill means there is one fewer stranger asking Reddit what that thing even is.
TCD Picks » Upway Spotlight
💡Upway makes it easy to find discounts of up to 60% on premium e-bike brands
|
What is the biggest reason you don't grow food at home? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Not enough time ⏳ 
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
