According to The Times report on December 16th, a study in the UK has revealed that eight million e-cigarettes are discarded or improperly recycled every week.
According to a report from the recycling charity organization Material Focus, although the in-store e-cigarette recycling rate has risen from 8% to 20% from last year, 61% of people still throw disposable e-cigarettes into the trash. Overall, 77% of e-cigarette users in the UK indicate that there is insufficient information on how to properly recycle e-cigarettes, and 39% of e-cigarettes purchased each month are disposable.
A study has found that young people aged 16 to 34 are most likely to casually discard or dispose of e-cigarettes, with 64% of them disposing improperly. This percentage is higher than the 57% of people aged 35 to 54 and the 34% of those aged 55 and above.
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus, stated that if action is not taken quickly and effectively, the threat of "e-cigarette doomsday" will persist. The emergence of new high-capacity e-cigarette products has posed a serious threat to the environment. E-cigarette producers are taking steps to circumvent the upcoming ban on disposable e-cigarettes.
Currently, "high-capacity" e-cigarettes (which can be smoked 6000 times per device) are becoming increasingly popular, partly due to their lower cost.
Last week, the government announced plans to require online marketplaces selling a large amount of products to pay for the disposal and cleaning costs of disposable e-cigarettes in the UK market.
Minister for the Circular Economy Mary Creagh has stated that electronic devices such as e-cigarettes are being sold in the UK without producers paying the appropriate fees for recycling and processing old items.
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