The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is urging retailers and consumers to recycle vapes in a Sustainable Vaping Week campaign.
The initiative follows research which found five million single-use vapes are thrown away every week in the UK and comes as the vape sector faces increasing scrutiny for its impact on the planet.
Both the UKVIA Sustainable Vaping Week campaign and the new online resource hub provide retailers and manufacturers a range of materials to encourage vapers to recycle their vapes in the form of in-store posters, social media posts and online banners.
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The hub also provides consumers with an informative guide on how to safely dispose of their waste vape devices in an environmentally considerate way.
Are you unsure of what to do with your used vapes? Do you hoard devices where you live or work? If so, you are not alone. pic.twitter.com/IYm9eIqfle
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) October 17, 2023
UKVIA director general John Dunne said “more needs to be done” to educate consumers and how to dispose vapes and “establish a stronger infrastructure for collecting and processing vape waste.”
“The environmental initiatives we have launched have been created to close this critical knowledge gap by better educating vapers on how to correctly dispose of their used devices, providing guidance to the industry on their environmental responsibilities and spreading the message that vapes can and should be recycled.
Dunne also argued that a “prohibitive policy” like banning single-use vapes is not the way to solve environmental issues, especially when disposables are one of the “most accessible, popular and affordable quitting tools for adults looking to move away from cigarettes.”
