Profound Change on Disposables Will be Seen by 2025, EU Says

Ellesmere Zhu

On Jan. 4, a French Parliamentarian raised a question on the European Parliament pointing out the serious environmental problems caused by the surge of disposables: 

Concern about the sale of disposable e-cigarettes

 

In the last few years, a new type of disposable e-cigarette has become available throughout Europe. This single-use product, which appeared on the French market in 2020, is a serious source of pollution and an environmental disaster.

These disposable cigarettes contain metal components, lithium batteries and integrated circuits. A variety of metals can be found inside those circuits, including metal oxides, cobalt and copper. All of these substances must be recycled cautiously, as they are highly pollutant. Unfortunately, on most occasions these cigarettes are not disposed of in a way that allows them to be properly recycled.

 

Furthermore, according to a survey published by the Alliance contre le tabac (a French anti-tobacco group), 13% of young people between 13 and 16 years of age have already used these e-cigarettes. By targeting young people using sweet flavours, tobacco companies are specifically setting their sights on very young minors.

 

• 1.Is the Commission aware of this situation? If so, what are its plans to combat this issue and its harmful environmental impact?
• 2.Does the Commission intend to take steps to address the damage these e-cigarettes are causing to public health, and in particular to the health of young people in Europe?

On the routine meeting on Jan. 6, Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EP environment officer, answered the question stating that:

1. Disposable e-cigarettes (DEC) are covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, including collection and recovery obligations. The Directive is based on extended producer responsibility whereby producers of DEC must finance the collection and proper treatment of waste DEC. WEEE collection points shall be provided and users can return waste DEC at points of sale.
 

The proposal for a Batteries Regulation requires that portable batteries incorporated in products, including DEC, are readily removable and replaceable by end-users as of mid-2025. This will facilitate proper disposal at the end of life, increasing the collection of waste portable batteries and ensuring their recycling.
 

DEC are not in scope of the Single-Use Plastic Directive if they do not contain tobacco but for example vaporise a liquid, which is normally the case. The Directive will be reviewed in 2027, including a review of the list of products that are affected.
 

2. The Commission is aware of the attractiveness of DEC to young people. This is supported by the findings of the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks in its opinion on e-cigarettes, which reported moderate evidence that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking for young people.

In this context, and in order to understand the EU legislation’s ability to address recent market developments and achieve its public health goals in the current landscape, the Commission is running an overarching evaluation of the legislative framework for tobacco control. This evaluation process and any resulting steps will be carried out in line with the Better Regulation principles.

On January 5, 2023, 2FIRSTS and IEVA held an online meeting to discuss the strategic approach for the annual development of 2023, whereby shared ideas on the environmental solutions of disposables. 

Dustin Dahlmann, who chairs the Association, updated that an environmental protection company disassembled 3 different disposables and found out that on average 82% of a disposable vape can be recycled. Echo Guo, COO of 2FIRSTS, noted that several leading vape battery providers are interested in the news and tapping into the Europe recycle market by setting up factories in Europe and increasing investment on R&D. The meeting also witnessed 2 parties shaking on further cooperation on vape battery recycle. 

Alan Zhao, 2FIRSTS CEO, added that a 3-step approach should be applied to achieve the commercialization of battery recycling. First, regulators should introduce policies mandating vape producers to recycle used batteries; second, technological preparation should be in place, i.e. little shall be irrecyclable, which was not a problem since Chinese companies have mature technology regarding ESG solutions; third, the cause shall be profitable rather than "charity" to secure industry sustainability. 

Now that disposable related environmental problems are put on the table, industry practitioners and regulators can no longer turn a blind eye. What's more, in the question raised above, the parliamentarian also noted that the intriguing design may attract underage consumers. So 2FIRSTS reckons that plain packaging and designing will become another trend of development for disposables.