When e-cigarettes, or vapes, came on the market in 2007, they were initially seen as 1) a healthier alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes and 2) a possible stepping stone to quitting smoking once and for all. Unfortunately, the use of vapes has proven to have many health risks.
Vaping has increased dramatically since they were introduced over a decade ago. The CDC reported in 2023 that teen vape usage is down to 10%, but 25% of those middle and high school students used e-cigarettes daily. Their report also states that in 2020 over 17 million units of e-cigarettes were sold in retail stores over a four-week period — including marijuana vapes. This translates into hundreds of millions of vaping products added to the waste stream every year.
Some people originally thought vapes would be an environmental boon, since people wouldn’t be tossing cigarette butts on the ground. But vaping presents its own environmental problems including toxic chemicals, increased plastic, and electronic waste. Recent concerns focus on Britain, where 9 of 10 vape manufacturers have willfully bypassed disposal restrictions by redesigning their products to be “reusable,” and less recyclable.
Components of a Vape
Most vape products include:
-
- A cartridge that holds the e-liquid
- E-liquid containing propylene glycol, flavoring, and nicotine or THC
- An atomizer that heats the liquid
- A microprocessor
- A rechargeable battery (usually lithium-ion)
- A sensor
- An LED light
- A mouthpiece that activates the device when the user inhales
All those components together make safe disposal complicated.
Mixed Materials Mean a Recycling Headache
Vapes are made of a mix of materials — usually a combination of glass, metal, and plastic. This combination makes it difficult to separate out any single material that might be recyclable. For this reason alone, vaping products are not accepted in curbside recycling.
What’s in That E-Liquid?
The liquid in e-cigarettes contains nicotine and a host of other chemicals. Marijuana vapes contain sticky THC oil, which makes recycling nearly impossible. Chemicals in e-liquid ingredients vary widely among manufacturers and regulation of these ingredients is lacking.
Nicotine can be poisonous to children, pets, and wildlife. If discarded as litter, the nicotine can contaminate water systems. Don’t dispose of e-liquid in your garbage or recycling bin and never rinse it down the drain.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has two websites about the proper disposal of e-cigarettes because whether and how the disposal is regulated depends on who is throwing away the e-cigarette:
- In most states, hazardous waste that is disposed of at a residence is not regulated as a hazardous waste. This is usually referred to as household hazardous waste (HHW). EPA has been a strong advocate of using HHW collection programs instead of throwing hazardous items in the household trash or recycling.
- Hazardous waste that is disposed of at a non-residence (such as schools and businesses) is regulated as a hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This hazardous waste may not be disposed of at a household hazardous waste collection program.
Vaping and Electronic Waste
The electronics in vapes also pose a recycling problem. Theoretically, you could separate the electronic components and bring them to a facility that accepts e-waste. Yet in these small devices, electronic parts such as coils and sensors are mixed in with plastic and glass. It’s difficult and sometimes impossible to separate them out for recycling. Disassembling a vape also poses the risk of spilling the e-liquid.
Lithium-ion batteries are a bigger problem. They are classified as hazardous waste and need to be handled properly. Under certain conditions, lithium-ion batteries can catch fire or explode. Improper disposal of batters can harm consumers and sanitation workers.
Confusion Around Vape Disposal
Like so many hard-to-recycle items, there is little guidance from manufacturers or the government for how to responsibly dispose of vaping products.
Not surprisingly, people who use vaping products are quite confused about proper disposal. The Truth Initiative asked a group of 15- to 24-year-olds how they disposed of vape products. Over 50% of respondents reported putting empty vapes either in the trash or in curbside recycling. A majority cited lack of clarity and convenience as barriers to proper disposal.
Recycling Options
There aren’t many options for recycling vapes. A few sellers of vaping products offer free products in exchange for vapes or cartridges returned for recycling. Sauce, a vape product company, for example, offers drop-off boxes at cannabis dispensaries. Vessel, an online vape shop, offers a mail-in vape battery recycling service that awards users with discounts on future purchases. Terracycle has discontinued its mail-in program for HEETS, VEEV, and VEEBA vaping products.
Reconomy offers a vape recycling collection service to dispensaries and smoke shops. Similar services are available from Glasdon, but not for consumers. Ask your retailer to sign up so you can recycle.
In Britain, FEELM is working to create “the world’s first industrial end-to-end disposable recycling scheme” in partnership with vape distributors and retailers. And Smoko, another U.K. online smokeshop, offers a mail-in Collection Bag that can be dropped in the Royal Mail. The programs are not available in the U.S.
Another option for at least turning in vapes is through the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The DEA hosts prescription drug take-back events to prevent prescription drug abuse. In 2020, they added vapes and cartridges to the list of materials they accept. The program does not accept lithium-ion batteries.
The Vape Waste Project, an independent, non-profit effort to propagate collection bins, recycling, and research to support designing vape products for efficient recycling, is working to provide a 10-cent credit to vape users who send their used pens for recycling.
Search Earth911’s recycling database to find a recycling location for lithium-ion batteries near you — just enter your ZIP code.
FDA Advice on Vape Disposal
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared that e-cigarette waste and e-liquid waste should be handled as household hazardous waste (HHW), but the Environmental Protection Agency has ruled vape products are exempt from household hazardous waste guidelines. The FDA offers the following guidance:
- Check with state and local resources for regulations and hazardous waste collection sites.
- Seal used vapes and keep no longer than 90 days before disposal.
- Do not rinse e-liquid from cartridges — it will contaminate water.
- Avoid getting e-liquid on skin, as it can be toxic.
- Keep vapes away from kids and pets — the nicotine can be poisonous.
Find a location for HHW disposal near you.
Use Your Voice To Request a Solution
Ultimately, the onus of proper vape disposal falls on the consumer. What can you do? If your favorite brand doesn’t offer a takeback program for recycling their spent vape products, ask the company to provide one. You can also start a petition or contact your city and state representatives and tell them you support extended producer responsibility laws that require manufacturers to support recycling the products they make at their end of life. Your voice may help make a difference.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 15, 2021, and was updated in May 2025. Got a question about how to recycle as specific product or type of material? Let us know, and we’ll do the research, sharing the results with the world. You can help support our work, too!