Analysis: The use of lithium batteries in disposable vapes represents an enormous waste of valuable materials with staggering environmental costs
Disposable vapes have become incredibly popular worldwide. Reports suggest that approximately five million disposable vapes are discarded each week in the UK alone and that only 17% of these are properly recycled. In Ireland, we know that 8% of the population currently use e-cigarettes, though there is no breakdown for the use of dispoable vapes.
There are many issues associated with the use of single use electronics beyond the societal and health concerns that are now becoming internationally recognised. Let's focus on why this technology is used in disposable products, the enormous waste of battery resources that results from the use of disposable vapes and the dangers of improper disposal.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, it's been reported that disposable vapes are to be banned in Ireland by the end of 2024
Why do vapes use lithium Ion batteries?
If lithium is in high demand, then why are manufacturers using them in disposable products? Lithium batteries offer excellent power density. This means that they can fit a lot of electrical energy into a small and light battery. They are also suited to providing the type of small intense bursts of electrical energy required to heat a coil that turns the liquid contained within a vape into an aerosol.
The cost of these batteries has also been significantly reduced in the past decade due to the massive increase in global production. A combination of these factors has resulted in what should be a valuable reuseable means of storing energy becoming the default choice for single use electrical products.
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From RTÉ's Hot Mess podcast, should we allow mining for lithium along the Wicklow Way?
How much battery capacity are we wasting?
Based on UK use alone, we are throwing out 260 million small batteries from single use vapes after only one use. This does not include other single use electronics such as small fans or novelty toys. Typical battery capacity for a disposable vape is around 550 mAh. The specific design of cells for use in disposable vapes makes them particularly difficult to disassemble and recover metals from. Research also suggests these batteries manufactured to a lower quality standard.
So what does this mean in terms of products that we use every day? For an easy to grasp example, let's consider the batteries within our phones. The iPhone 15 has a battery capacity of approximately 3350 mAh. Some phones have bigger batteries, and some smaller, but this is a useful unit to gain a greater understanding of the scale of the problem. Phone batteries can typically be discharged about 500 times before there is a noticeable decrease in battery capacity.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne Show, the view from across the globe on cracking down on disposable vapes
In simple terms, we are throwing away the equivalent of 37.6 million iPhone batteries after a single use. There are approximately 8.5 million iPhones sold in the UK each year so this waste reflects over four years of iPhone production. This represents an enormous waste of valuable materials and the environmental costs are staggering.
The danger of improper disposal
Typical recycling of paper and plastic involves several steps to ensure that the resultant material is useful for future manufacturing. This usually includes a shredding step to break down the material before it is reformed into new stock. If a disposable vape is incorrectly included in this process it is likely that the battery cell will be ruptured resulting in temperatures of up to 500C.
When surrounded by shredded paper and plastic, this could result in a dangerous fire that would rapidly spread. This leads to a risk to life, toxic emissions, further waste of potentially recyclable materials and the destruction of recycling infrastructure.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, all you need to know about lithium batteries
Overall, lithium ion batteries should not be used in disposable products. They use precious materials, are dangerous if not disposed of properly and negatively impact an already stressed battery material supply chain. More broadly, single use disposable products are a needlessly destructive option which generate extraordinary amounts of Co2, overwhelm our recycling systems and damage our local environment.
Our choice of specific technologies can most certainly be improved to reduce negative impacts. We need to consider our use of all single use products at a societal level if we are going to meaningfully tackle the growing mountain of hazardous waste.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
