Concerned citizen shocked by contents of 'disposable' vape: 'This is a travesty'

According to a Reddit post, vape products marked as disposable are misleading. 

The original poster found a pink vape container with a built-in LED display in a parking lot that they attempted to repurpose for "something like a temperature and humidity display."

As the breakdown by the University of New South Wales showed, these containers have a mix of non-biodegradable materials like an aluminum casing, plastic caps and mouthpiece, a lithium-based battery, tape, and metal heating element. Without one recycling container to place a whole empty disposable vape container into, they often become litter or sit in a landfill as a fire hazard and contamination risk.

The batteries contain lithium, which requires intense and costly extraction from saltwater reserves using brine mining, per Earth.org. The process increases the possibility of water pollution and expensive cleanup. When improperly thrown in a landfill, lithium batteries can start "underground fires" and leak toxic chemicals.

Since recycling doesn't cause aluminum to lose its chemical makeup, it is infinitely recyclable, according to the International Aluminum Institute. But improper disposal, which tends to happen with single-use vapes, wastes that potential. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research reports that such improper e-waste recycling is costing the United States $91 billion in precious metal loss. Then, there's plastic, which can take up to 500 years to break down, per Statista, and gives off methane — a major contributor to Earth's increasing heat.

In a possible future win for e-waste reduction, the FDA reported use of e-cigarettes among young people has gone down from 2.13 million in 2023 to 1.63 million users in 2024. Vapers can make a difference by switching to refillable ones that produce less environmental waste and save money by purchasing vape e-liquid in bulk. 

All this waste from disposable vapes wasn't lost on those in the comments.

One angry commenter stated, "I have a box full of rechargeable batteries from picking these up. … Absolutely disgusting how lithium batteries are wasted."

One commenter erupted, "Talking about decadent e-waste."

Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely 👍 Only in some areas 🫤 Not really 👎 I'm not sure 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

A vaper said, "I use a crystal pod vape, which tastes exactly the same as the disposables, is less than half the price (£6 for two pods instead of £8/9 for a single vape) and is rechargeable."

"This is a travesty. Some Jevons Paradox s*** for sure." noted one. Jevons Paradox refers to the idea that increased efficiency in resource use will create an increase in resource consumption.

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