Disposable vapes can’t be reused, recycled, or trashed. So what happens to them?

With the growing popularity of disposable e-cigarettes, communities across the U.S. are confronting a new vaping problem: how to safely get rid of millions of small, battery-powered devices that are considered hazardous waste. For years, the debate surrounding vaping largely centered on its risks for high school and middle school students enticed by flavors like gummy bear, lemonade, and watermelon. But the recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. These single-use devices containing nicotine, lithium, and other metals cannot be reused or recycled and, under federal environmental law, aren’t supposed to go in the trash. U.S. teens and adults are buying roughly 12 million disposable vapes per month. With little federal guidance, local officials are finding their own ways to dispose of e-cigarettes collected from schools, colleges, vape shops, and other places. “So the destruction of vapes when it comes to destroying it, we classify it as a hazardous material. So an average barrel for us, which takes about 1200 vapes costs us about $1400 to destroy the product,” said New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda, who leads a task force on the issue. “The sheer volume of what's being sold right now or what we're finding on the streets is something that says that this is an alarming number,” Miranda said. Vaping critics say the industry has skirted responsibility for the environmental impact of its products, while federal regulators have failed to force changes that could make vaping components easier to recycle or less wasteful. Among the possible changes are: federal standards requiring that e-cigarettes be reusable or that manufacturers fund collection and recycling programs. New York, California, and several other states have so-called extended product responsibility laws for computers and other electronics. But those laws don't cover vaping products and there are no comparable federal requirements for any industry. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tobacco chief, Brian King, said in a statement that his agency “will continue to carefully consider the potential environmental impacts” of vaping products. This article was provided by The Associated Press.