Smoke signals: keeping waste out of landfill through effective communications
Following ongoing pressure from public health bodies, the UK government last month confirmed that disposable vapes will soon be officially banned across England, Scotland and Wales. We sat down with Ed Willmott, managing director of Prova, to discuss the ban and its wider implications on best practice waste management.
According to gov.uk, the number of children using vapes has tripled over the past three years, with strong evidence showing that cheap, easy-to-use, disposable products with bright and colourful packaging are partly to blame[1]. The ban is expected to come into force later this year, with a six-month grace period offered to allow businesses to adapt.
Banning the sale of disposable vapes is positive news on two counts. For one, the widespread impact on public health is clear, but equally as concerning are the environmental implications. It’s heart-wrenching to see vapes either littered or thrown into general waste (an estimated five million every week, according to Material Focus), rather than being disposed of through dedicated vape recycling collections.
As a result, we’re seeing regular fires at waste depots (even forcing one Scottish firm to buy its own fire engine[2]), while also unnecessarily costing the public purse millions in street cleaning costs. Even recycling streams are becoming contaminated with disposable vapes, which adds unnecessary costs and delays to the recycling supply chain.
Throwing money down the drain
In addition to the environmental hazards that unsafe disposal creates, we’re also throwing away valuable resources that could otherwise remain in the value chain for longer. According to research from UCL, around 10,000kg of lithium from e-cigarette batteries enter landfill sites every year[3]. With lithium regarded as an essential building block for green technology and the modern digital economy, it’s shocking that (as a country) we discard ten metric tonnes of the precious metal per year in disposable vapes alone, which is just a drop in the ocean compared with the metals entering landfill inside e-waste like old phones and appliances.
Poor communication is directly contributing to the growing issue of resource scarcity and underscoring the dire need for more effective recycling and recovery processes to extract and reuse valuable materials. Addressing e-waste management comprehensively is crucial not only for mitigating environmental impact but also for promoting a more sustainable and circular economy.
While disposable vapes and e-waste are certainly causing confusion, they are only the tip of the iceberg. Various other hard to recycle items are frequently landfilled, exacerbating the strain on our environment, waste management infrastructure, and bluntly, a greater burden on the taxpayer.
The role of effective communication
From nappies and coffee cups to crisp packets and pet food pouches, they all come with their own set of nuances and exceptions for how to safely and properly dispose of them. Poor communication regarding this point results in a staggering two and a half billion coffee cups[4] and three billion disposable nappies[5] alone ending up in landfill every year.
As a communicator, I must ask myself why the situation has become so problematic. There are so many different recycling solutions – even for materials such as chewing gum! So, why then are these items still ending up in general waste. Is it convenience? Is it confusion? Or is it a severe lack of public information?
While not the silver bullet solution, communication has a key role to play in improving public engagement and ensuring best practice waste management. Firstly, we need to shout far louder about the environmental implications of our actions and paint the picture of what happens when items are improperly disposed of.
Secondly, we need to provide real clarity when it comes to the solution – where can I dispose of specific packaging, products or items? When? How much does it cost? Most of all, it must be simple and relatable.
This vape ban should be seen as a real wakeup call to take stock of where we are and where we need to be in terms of communicating with both consumers and retailers. If we’re serious about minimising waste, alleviating negative environmental impacts and maximising resource efficiency, effective communication must become a far greater priority for waste managers, policymakers and stakeholders across the entire product value chain.
[1] https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/01/29/disposable-vape-ban-and-what-it-means-for-young-people/
[2] https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/perth-kinross/4767110/perthshire-disposable-vapes-fire-engine/
[3] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/dec/vast-amounts-waste-caused-single-use-e-cigarette-batteries
[5] Disposable and Reusable Nappies – Hansard – UK Parliament