Ben KingBusiness reporter
BiffaThe ban on disposable vapes is failing to stop millions being thrown away incorrectly, and the devices are still causing chaos for the waste industry, a boss at a leading firm has said.
“We’re seeing more vapes in our system, causing more problems, more fires than ever before,” said Roger Wright, the strategy and packaging manager at Biffa.
Vape firms have launched cheap reusable devices, so instead of refilling and recycling them, people were binning them and buying more, he said.
A spokesperson for the vape industry said the June ban had been a success, and any rise in devices being thrown away was likely due to black market trade.
In April and May, the last two months before the ban, Biffa’s recycling facilities in Suffolk, Teesside and London saw around 200,000 vapes on average incorrectly mixed in with general recycling.
For the three months since the ban in June, the average figure has been 3% higher.
Biffa handles almost a fifth of the UK’s waste, and Mr Wright reckons the rest of the industry will be seeing a similar picture, suggesting around a million vapes a month going into general recycling.
This may partly be because large stocks of disposables were sold off cheap before the ban came into force.
But the vape industry’s response to the ban has also contributed, says Mr Wright.
Big vape firms launched a range of reusable models that are very similar to the most popular disposable vapes and sold at similar prices.
By adding a replaceable nicotine pod and a USB recharging port, they can be sold as reusable, but Mr Wright suspects many are still being thrown away.
“We still see a lot of these reusables in the bins, because people have used them as a disposable item,” he says.
The ban has also led to a big increase in the number of different kinds of vapes on the market, as firms launched dozens of new products to try to get round the ban.
“The innovation’s gone crazy to try and get around the ban. Ironically it makes our job of recycling them – if we collect them – much harder,” said Mr Wright.
But Marcus Sexton, chairman of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, argued that the ban has been a success.
“We can see through the data consumers are refilling and recharging devices,” he said.
“So actually, if Biffa’s findings are true, this is about disposable products washing through the system, either through illegal traders or through the illegal black market.”
BiffaVapes contain lithium batteries, which can catch fire when crushed. This often happens in bin lorries or recycling centres – one of the reasons they were banned in June.
They are called “bombs in bins” because of the fires they cause. Vapes should be returned to stores or recycling centres for specialist handling, not added to general recycling or general waste.
In June alone, Biffa had to deal with 60 fires caused by vapes and other small electrical items. Once the fire has occurred, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause.
Biffa said dealing with this problem costs the UK waste industry a billion pounds a year.
The ban on disposable vapes was partly designed to curb the many millions of devices that were incorrectly thrown away.
Vapes mixed in with general waste, which is often ultimately incinerated, cause less serious problems than those in general recycling.
Mr Wright said collecting vapes and electrical devices directly from people’s homes alongside general waste and recycling would be part of the solution.
“I think that would massively improve the collection rates,” he said. “You’re more likely to put it out on the kerbside than you are to bother to go down to your corner shop and give it back.” Some councils already do this.
A government spokesperson said: “Single-use vapes get kids hooked on nicotine and blight our high streets – it’s why we’ve taken tough action and banned them.”
It said it has made in compulsory for retailers to provide recycling bins, and its circular economy strategy due later this year aims to increase the reuse and recycling of electrical equipment.
