<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/13/environment-groups-call-for-urgent-action-on-hazardous-waste-from-e-cigarettes>
"Environment groups have called for urgent clarity and regulation to respond to
an increase in hazardous waste from e-cigarettes as vaping becomes more
popular.
The number of people using e-cigarettes doubled between 2016 and 2019,
according to the federal government, with a survey showing more than 30% of 14-
to 17-year-olds have tried vaping.
The head of Clean Up Australia, Pip Kiernan, said the sharp increase presented
“a new and serious environmental issue” with volunteers discovering littered
e-cigarettes “in increasing volumes”.
The founder of advocacy group No More Butts, Shannon Mead, said he was aware of
schools “that now have buckets of confiscated vaping devices and are unclear
what to do with them”.
Some local councils including the City of Sydney accept vapes in their e-waste
collections, but many do not due to concerns about potential leaching of
battery acid, lithium and nicotine. The devices have also been linked to
explosions and fires.
Many product stewardship schemes do not accept e-cigarettes or can only process
the battery. Disposable vapes often have an encapsulated battery that cannot be
removed.
According to the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority, many
vaping stores do provide basic information on how to discard products but this
is of limited use as regulations vary widely across the state.
Kiernan said there was an “urgent, overdue” need for standardised processes for
the disposal of e-cigarette devices to reduce pollution.
“We need to set clear standards on environmentally responsible e-cigarette
waste disposal and hold the industry accountable for adhering to them,” Kiernan
said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
