Ever been out on a boat or ferry and accidentally dropped your sunglasses? Your sunglasses are probably sitting at the bottom of the ocean, river, or lake you're at, just waiting to be picked up by a diver.
A scuba diver from Northern California shared his finds on YouTube after going diving with a friend in the American River. Mike, known colloquially as Merman Mike (@MermanMike), uncovered quite a trove from the river floor. One man's trash is another man's treasure, they say — unless it's a used vape.
Within the first four minutes of the video, Mike and his diving buddy uncovered countless disposable vapes, which are typically used as an alternative to cigarette smoking. Overall, they found more than 30 used vapes discarded in the river.
Mike said it was bittersweet finding all those vapes in the river.
"Sweet because it felt good to get something so bad for the environment out of the water, but bitter because someone threw that many of them," Mike shared in the video description. The video showed the diving pair also found a bunch of other pieces of discarded trash in the river, like beer cans and bottles.
Disposable vapes have been making headlines due to their propensity to cause addiction to nicotine, while the environmental impact also looms. These single-use devices contain lithium batteries, plastic casings, and toxic chemicals, all of which contribute to pollution and resource depletion.
According to the U.S. Public Interest Resource Group, the United States throws away 4.5 disposable vapes per second. Further, being that there is no standard way to recycle vapes, many people just toss them. Vapes fall under e-waste, just under 10% of which actually gets recycled in the Americas.
"The river or the lake, or any body of water, is definitely not the right option," Mike pleaded in the video. "These things are terrible for the environment … it's unfortunate."
In brighter news, the divers did discover some more fun items that may have accidentally ended up in the river, like several pairs of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses, as well as a gold necklace. While sunglasses make for a cool treasure hunt, finding a pile of waterlogged vapes is quite the reminder that some people treat our bodies of water like a giant ashtray.
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