Electronic Cigarettes: Recycling

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 25 April 2022.

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Photo of Emma Hardy Emma Hardy Labour, Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential for single-use vaping pens to be recycled including (a) plastic body, (b) circuit board, and (c) battery components; if he will make an estimate of the number of those devices sent to landfill; and if he will make an assessment of the (i) effect on the environment of those devices and (ii) the potential merits of a ban on their sale.

Photo of Jo Churchill Jo Churchill The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Household electrical equipment, including vape pens, containing plastics, circuit boards and batteries can be recycled. A national electricals recycling locator has been established by Material Focus to guide householders to their nearest electrical recycling point.

No specific assessment has been made of the numbers of vape pens that go to landfill, however, the government plans to consult on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations later this year. Those reforms will seek to address the estimated 155,000 tonnes of small electricals discarded annually in residual waste.

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