Based on a survey conducted by Eden Suh, 51%, more than half of disposable e-cigarette consumers throw their e-cigarette pods in the trash and 49.1% of vape users do not understand how to handle disposable products and pods.
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So what is the impact of disposable e-cigarette waste if it is thrown away carelessly? Apart from having an impact on the environment, it can also have an impact on the mining of the materials needed to make batteries, batteries that end their life in the trash will be taken to a landfill.
When batteries start to rot in landfills, dangerous chemicals including lead, cadmium, zinc, mercury, and – of course – lithium can leak into the soil, causing soil and water pollution.
When these chemicals pollute land and water, animals, humans and the environment are at risk of being affected by bad effects.
The solution is that waste from vapes and pods can be handled with proper disposal, but there are alternative ways to dispose of e-cigarettes safely. The FDA states that all e-cigarette waste must be handled as household hazardous waste (HHW). As such, the following are guidelines for disposing of single-use vape waste as follows:
- Check regulatory resources and hazardous waste collection sites
- Seal disposable vape waste and store it for no more than 90 days before throwing it away.
- Do not rinse the e-liquid from the cartridge because it will contaminate the water.
- Keep disposable vape waste away from children
- Find HHW locations in the nearest area.
If the process of disposing of disposable vape waste is handled correctly and safely, it can reduce the impact on the environment.