Could a DRS for used vapes really work?

Despite last year’s disposable vape ban, 6.3m vapes and pods are still discarded every week in the UK.

This has prompted fresh calls for a deposit return scheme (DRS) for vaping products, similar to the one coming for drinks bottles.

Waste management firm, Bins, has calculated such a scheme could see this reduced by 5.5m, saving 285m vapes from landfill annually. Alongside this, it has calculated how many fires could be prevented and the precious metals that could be recovered.

While the ban on disposable vapes has helped to reduce the number purchased per week, with a 31% reduction, the high numer going to waste is disturbing.

In addition, reports of fires in bin trucks and at recycling centres persist, with some companies claiming they are experiencing one a day.

A new release from Bins reveals that while It’s hard to know exactly how successful a DRS scheme for vapes would be in the UK, applying the European average of 87% could recover 285m vapes annually.

This figure is based on current disposal rates of 6.3m vapes and pods per week, diverting approximately 5.5 million vapes from the waste stream every week.

Alongside this, a vape DRS could recover approximately 285m lithium-ion batteries per year that would otherwise risk entering household bins, street litter or residual waste streams.

Mark Hall (left), waste management expert at Bins, said: “A lot of talk has focused on how a vape DRS scheme could reduce litter and fires, but we wanted to put an actual estimation on this to show just how big the impact could be.

“There would be a huge reduction in vapes being binned, which ultimately leads to dangerous fires.”

“We’ll only know how successful a vape DRS scheme can be once it’s implemented, but using European averages, it’s clear to see that there would be a huge reduction in vapes being binned, which ultimately leads to dangerous fires.

“We also wanted to show the value in waste, something that often isn’t considered at a consumer level. While an individual vape may not have a large quantity of valuable metals, once this is multiplied by the enormous number that are purchased, it shows just how important it is that we effectively collect and recycle vapes.”