Biffa tackles single-use vapes

A national scheme for disposing, collecting and recycling single-use vapes in the UK has been launched by leading waste manager Biffa.

The UK’s e-scrap rules, based on European principles, require shops selling vapes to have a return system in place. But most do not and a large percentage of the 1.3 million non-rechargeable vapes disposed of in the UK every week wrongly end up in general waste or as litter.

The lithium batteries they contain are therefore both a pollution risk and a fire hazard.

Biffa’s new Vape Takeback Scheme include return bins at dozens of other locations across the UK, including airports, motorway service areas, hospitals, universities and colleges, railway stations, distribution centres, shopping centres and offices.

The vapes are taken by Biffa to an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) to be dismantled into their constituent parts – battery, casing, electronics, nicotine pads – with each being treated separately. Up to 80% of the vape device can be recycled.

Daniel Barrett, of Biffa’s Reactive Services team, says: ‘It is vital that single use vapes are disposed of properly via trusted AATFs. Until now, there have been limited options for businesses looking for a compliant solution to this problem, with only a handful of small scale regional and national options available.’