Vaping is doing very well as a fun activity. No wonder the craze of users towards this activity is entirely considerable. Undoubtedly, it can impress with its experiences. It is very famous, especially among younger adults, current cigarette users, LGBT individuals, and patients with comorbid conditions. The prevalence of these products started around 2007 only in the United States. And now, every third resident there has at least a one-time vape experience.
As the popularity of vaping is increasing, so are the sales. The sales of such products from September 2014 to May 2020 were increased by 122.2 percent. The sales of disposable vape products also increased at first but later decreased. Now, you can probably guess how many people are using vape products. And how the number of its users is increasing. If so many people are using these products, how much would be the waste? Can the environment tolerate so much waste?
Indeed, vape products from a vape shop produce plenty of waste. And this waste directly comes in contact with the environment. Many people merely throw them outside in garbage bins or anywhere else. Around 49.1%, almost half of the young individuals, do not know what they have to do with used disposable vape products. But thankfully, the waste is disposable but takes a lot of time to do so. Thus, many scrap dealers and users recycle the waste.
Vape Waste
Now! The question which arises here is, is single-use plastic a friend or foe to the environment? The answer to the question is a big no!
We certainly need to stop this for the sake of our earth’s environment. Mother nature is suffering from this human-made disaster for her. And it is harmful to breathing creatures as well. Do you want to know how and why? Well, let us tell you. Today, we will show you how vape waste generates plastic. And what impact can this plastic and vape waste have on the environment? Every user and environment concerned person must know it. So, keeping that in mind, let’s get started right away.
What does it mean by vape waste?
Okay, first things first. Before discussing the process of generating single-use plastic, let’s first understand what vape wastes so! As we all know that vape waste is a kind of waste correlated with such products. The products include vape cartridges or pods, disposables, batteries, juice containers, and product packaging.
What do we mean by single-use plastic?
All plastic products that need to be thrown away after one-time use are known as single-use plastic (SUP). It means all the vape products that we can only use for one time or for a short time duration are a source of single-use plastic.
How does vape waste harm the environment?
The waste generated from these vape products is harmful to both the environment and human beings. However, it is more hazardous to the environment. Now, you must be thinking, how is it a foe to the environment? Right? Well, then you must know that these vape products generate three types of vape waste in one. They are plastic waste, electronic waste (also known as e-waste), and hazardous waste. All three of them are harmful, especially to the environment.
Vapes produce plastic waste.
Plastic is the main element in their pod components and the device body. This plastic leads to an environmental issue as it is not biodegradable as organic compounds. It can reach the limit of hundreds of years for these plastic articles to decompose. Vapes also contain nicotine content, vape juice, and heavy metals in the vape. They are toxic waste to the environment. And lastly, you should know that vape products release electronic waste as they have a heating element and lithium-ion batteries. They are also an enemy to the environment.
How do vape products generate single-use plastic?
Most vape products, including Juul, use cartridges or pods to carry the vape juices. They all are plastic compounds. With the consumption of these products, consumers replace the cartridge or pods when the vape juice gets over. Do you do the same thing? Well! You cannot recycle these vape pods with other plastic waste as they have nicotine. And nicotine is a very hazardous waste. Pods also contain other toxic chemicals as their ingredient.
According to the research reports, even the smallest amount of nicotine carries immense harm risks for the animals. If we discard cartridges and pods as litter, they may lead to leaching nicotine or any other toxic chemical in the environment. Or any pet or wildlife will eat them.
A research session was held at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The purpose was to have an idea of the consequence of vape waste. The researchers collected a hundred and seventy-two items of vape wastes in a single day. The research areas were ten of the twelve bay area parking lots. These are the areas of high school where students are not even allowed to vape legally.
Not just this, the issue is getting worse. At the start of 2020, the youth vaping epidemic finally persuaded litigation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA banned all the flavors except menthol and tobacco for cartridge or pod-based vape products. But there is one thing that the tobacco and vape industry is good at doing. It is searching for all possible ways to get around laws and orders meant to safeguard users from their hazardous products.
Thanks to the immense lobbying efforts of the tobacco industry, the policy of the FDA does not entail disposable vape products. They’re also plastic. Thus, the production of single-use plastic is also increasing with the increasing sales of disposable vape products. So, every one-time use or disposable vape product produces single-use plastic as they release plastic waste.
What can you do to stop the production of these single-use plastics?
The only thing you can do right now to stop the production of single-use plastic is quite the usage of those vape products. They are neither good for you nor our environment. Thus, you must stop their use.
So, now, you know that many vape products are single-use plastics. They become waste once you use them. And then, they harm the environment after harming your health. Currently, the world doesn’t have better technology to avoid such harm. Thus, we need to stop using them. Let’s save the environment! Stay tuned for more!
Author: Kaitlin Justice
