If you’ve recently walked around your city while actually paying attention to your surroundings, you might have come across a disposable e-cigarette lying on the ground carelessly thrown away. I live in Munich, which is supposedly a very clean city. Still this is incredibly common, to me this is at least a weekly occurrence.
While there is lots of reasons why disposable e-cigarettes are problematic — such as the fact that the wide range of available flavours particularly appeal to a young audience and the elevated nicotine content is highly addictive — this article will focus on the ridiculous waste of resources caused by them.
The wording “disposable e-cigarette” Link to heading
From my point of view the wording “disposable e-cigarette” is already highly suggestive and wrong. It implies a product that is easily disposed of without any consequences. This conceals the potential for reusability and especially the environmental impact caused by the contained batteries.
This misperception is seen by the fact, that many of them are disposed of improperly on the streets or in regular trash cans: Most users of disposable e-cigarettes are simply not aware (or don’t care) how they are made and what their environmental impact really is. Probably only a minuscule percentage of disposable e-cigarettes are disposed of as electronic waste as they should be.
In reality a disposable e-cigarette contains basically the same components as its reusable counterparts: a battery electronics and e-liquid. However, it is designed specifically such, that it cannot be refilled and therefore becomes useless when the liquid is empty or when there is no charge left in the battery. This causes an immense amount of avoidable waste while generating profit for the manufacturers.
Essentially disposables are manufactured e-waste.
So what is actually inside a disposable e-cigarette? Link to heading
Too find out, I wanted to take some apart, naturally I didn’t buy any disposable e-cigarettes, as I’m not willing to support this business model. Instead I went out and picked some up from the street, as there are plenty around.
I came back with the following:
Disposable e-cigarettes from different brands.
The three disposable e-cigarettes we are gonna look at in this article are the following:
- Elfbar 600
- Vuse GO 700
- Lost Mary BM600
Vuse GO Link to heading
The device is made up of an aluminium case with plastic bottom and top pieces. While the device was clearly not designed to be taken apart, the plastic end pieces can be removed with some forceful prying, allowing us to slide the inner components out of the metal shell.
Inside we find a tank for storing the e-liquid integrated into the mouth piece a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery as well as control electronics.
The battery is labelled EVE12350CS and rated at 1.46Wh. A short test using an external lithium-ion charging board confirms, that it actually can be recharged:
Elfbar Link to heading
Similar to the Vuse GO, the Elfbar is composed of an aluminium shell and plastic bottom and top pieces. The device is also clearly not made to be taken apart. Using a set of pliers and some heavy prying, it is possible to remove the plastic pieces, so that the inner guts can be slid out of the encasing:
We se very similar components compared to the Vuse: a lithium-ion battery (labelled 13300, 3,7V 360mAh 1.33Wh), a liquid tank and control electronics. The battery is labelled as 13300 3.7V 360mAh 1.33Wh.
Lost Mary Link to heading
Although the Lost Mary has a different shape than the previous devices, it still consists, of an aluminium case with plastic endcaps, that can be removed with some force. The inner components including the battery seem to be exactly the same as with the Elfbar, apart from the different tank shape.
Side by Side Link to heading
Laying all three devices side by side, we can see that even though they are from different manufacturers and look vastly different from the outside, essentially work the same on the inside and share very similar components. All of them come with a similar lithium-ion cell, pre-charged from the factory and without any possibility to recharge it after there is no charge left.
Why do they use rechargeable batteries when they can not be recharged? Link to heading
It seems ridiculous to use rechargeable batteries in devices that are not meant to ever be recharged but instead thrown away.
I suspect, that due to their ubiquitous usage in our electronics dependant world, lithium-ion batteries are simply the most cost efficient solution, while providing an energy density suitable for such small pocketable devices.
Nonetheless, from an environmental standpoint it is atrocious to produce devices containing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, that are not meant to ever be recharged and instead thrown away after the battery runs out. Recycling or deposit schemes on single-use e-cigarettes are not a suitable solution, as it’s still incredibly wasteful, to recycle almost new battery cells, that would still be good for hundreds of charge cycles.
Environmental Impact Link to heading
Especially in connection with e-mobility, the environmental impact of battery production has been widely discussed. In short, lithium-ion batteries contain valuable materials such as cobalt, nickel and lithium — critical resources needed for the transition to electric vehicles but wasted when used in disposable e-cigarettes.
When these batteries are improperly discarded, they can cause serious environmental harm. Toxic substances may leak into the soil and the groundwater, leading to contamination that affects ecosystems and potentially enters the food chain.
Further, lithium-ion batteries are prone to overheat and ignite when handled improperly. This can lead to fires in landfills, that are extremely difficult to control and can burn for extended periods of time. [2]
What is being done about this? Link to heading
Belgium is the first country in Europe that will ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes from January 1st 2025. In a press release the Federal health minister said the following in that respect: “The disposable e-cigarette causes a lot of damage to society and the environment. This harmful product mainly targets our young people. I am therefore pleased that we can remove this from the market”. [3] Also the UK [4] and France have put legislation in place, that will ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes in the near future.
References Link to heading
[1] https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/environmental-impacts-of-lithium-ion-batteries/ [2] https://ul.org/research-updates/environmental-impacts-of-lithium-ion-batteries/ [1] https://www.brusselstimes.com/978742/first-in-europe-belgium-will-ban-sale-of-disposable-vapes-from-2025 [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7n3zyp114o