How to Recycle Your Disposable Vapes

Disposable vapes have soared in popularity thanks to their convenience and affordability. You can purchase a disposable vape online from Vape Globe and it's ready to use right out of the box. This convenience comes with one major concern: you don't know how to dispose of vapes!

Unfortunately, most people will throw disposable vapes in the waste - it's estimated that 1.3 million disposable vapes are thrown away every week. This creates immense amounts of waste electrical products, leading to the question is it possible to recycle disposable vapes? We've created this guide to help you understand all there is to know about vape recycling and disposable vapes.

Can you recycle disposable vapes?

Good news! A disposable vape can be recycled and you're encouraged to recycle vapes instead of throwing them away. The same is true for rechargeable vapes; if you've been using a vape kit for a while and want to upgrade to a new one, recycle the old kit instead of chucking it out.

Why should you recycle vapes?

Vape recycling will help cut down on plastic waste and waste electrical products. Disposable vapes are made of many materials, including plastic and electrical components. Putting these in your household rubbish bin will mean they end up in landfill sites and contribute to carbon emissions.

Recycling your disposable vapes will mean you reduce waste emissions and help recover valuable electronic equipment. A disposable vape will contain critical resources that can be reused in other products. The lithium-ion batteries can be removed and repurposed to help produce things like electric car batteries. Some experts estimate that if all disposable vapes sold in the UK were recycled, it could equate to making 5,000 electric car batteries!

As such, proper vape disposal is necessary to avoid losing these resources. There are plenty of ways to go about this - and many ways not to - so let's dive into the best practices for recycling disposable vapes.

How to dispose of vapes: Key vape recycling tips

You might be inclined to pop your disposable vape in the household recycling bin when it's all puffed out. It seems like the easiest way to recycle disposable vapes, but this is highly ill-advised. Follow the tips below for a better and more efficient way of approaching vape recycling:

Check your local council website

The first step to getting rid of disposable vapes is to check your local council website. It will give you information on how to find a local recycling facility that accepts disposable vapes - or a vape recycling scheme in your area.

This is a crucial step to ensure your disposable vape gets recycled correctly. If you leave your single-use vapes outside your house in a bag, but there isn't a vape recycling scheme near you, then they won't be taken. Likewise, you can save yourself the hassle of going to a nearby household waste recycling centre if a scheme exists to have them picked up from your property.

Separate the disposable vape components

Even if recycling centres handle electrical and electronic equipment, that doesn't mean you can go there and throw disposable vapes straight into a recycling container. You must take apart the device to separate the following parts:

• The plastic outer casing
• The e-liquid container
• The battery

All of the disposable vapes we sell are from brands that make it easy for you to take your disposable vape apart. It's normally a case of twisting or pulling things and they unclip from one another. When the battery and e-liquid pod are removed, you can throw the plastic shell in with normal plastic waste at home. As long as there is no electrical waste attached, then it's fine.

How to recycle disposable vape e-liquid cartridges

All disposable vapes come with e-liquid cartridges and you must ensure it's empty before you try to recycle it. Rinse it out as well, and then you can put this in your usual plastic recycling - depending on the type of plastic it's made from. If you're unsure, contact the council and they'll direct you to a local recycling centre to safely dispose of the cartridge.

How to recycle batteries from disposable vapes

When the battery is removed from single-use vapes it's fairly easy to recycle. You treat it like other electrical and electronic equipment. Head to a nearby battery recycling point and put them there. Again, lots of household waste recycling centres will have battery recycling points, so you can kill multiple birds with one stone by going there.

Alternatively, depending on where you live, there might be a household recycling service going door-to-door to pick up batteries.

See if a vape shop will take your vapes

Some vape shops do more than sell vapes; they're part of a vape recycling scheme. One of the most popular schemes is Vape Takeback from Biffa, allowing shop owners to recycle vapes safely. This includes the vape itself, the external battery and the e-liquid bottles.

If you go to a shop, you can hand in your old vape without needing to take it apart. It's highly convenient and can help cut down on the 1.3 million disposable vapes thrown away each week.

Contact the manufacturer

Can't find any vape shops in your area letting you recycle used vapes? Head online and see if the manufacturer will take your vape back. We know you can contact Elf to recycle Elf Bars and old Elf vape kits - and many other vaping brands do this as well.

Contact them and they'll tell you where to send your vapes so they're recycled properly. Again, you can send the whole device to them and they'll deal with taking it apart, etc.

Don't waste electrical products & start recycling disposable vapes today

You know how many vapes are thrown away all the time and they have such a huge environmental impact. Recycling vapes will help you create less plastic waste and recover valuable electrical products/resources.

Knowing how to safely get rid of used vapes is the key to all of this. As a recap, do not throw used vapes or vape kits in a domestic or public bin. Search online to see if your council accepts vapes at any nearby recycling centres or visit a vape shop to see if they'll take your products and recycle them.

If you do choose to go to recycling centres you must take your vape apart and recycle each component separately! This ensures the plastic is recycled and the battery inside is safely recycled.

Together, we can eat away at the million disposable vapes thrown in landfills every week and more towards a more sustainable future!