How to Dispose of Disposable Vapes

Ever since vapes hit the market in 2003, they’ve been used as a staple for recovering addicts worldwide. In fact, the e-cigarette industry was valued at £20.4 billion worldwide and £3.2 billion in the UK in 2024 - almost double its worth in 2018. Throughout this period of growth, vapes have gone through a fair amount of controversy: disposable vapes have been connected to an increase in accidental fires, poor air quality (especially indoors), and plastic waste entering landfill sites. To combat a few of these problems, the UK has brought in a disposable vape ban in 2025 - and it’s changing how to dispose of vapes in the UK.            

What is the disposal vape ban?

The ban on single use e-cigs is a government initiative intended to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes. It came into effect on the 1st of June 2025, the ban stops businesses from manufacturing, stocking and selling disposable vapes in the UK. The consequences for doing so can range from a warning notice to 2 years in prison or an unlimited fine, although this can vary between England, Scotland and Wales.

Why were disposal vapes banned?

While disposable vapes have helped plenty of people to recover from nicotine addictions, there are still plenty of problems encountered by the e-cig industry. While these aren’t always on par with the dangers of cigarettes, they are significant enough to warrant action - especially in 2025, when 11.6% of UK teenagers have tried vaping, and 3.7% use vapes weekly (that’s 532,931 children)! Here are a few of the biggest issues that factored into the recent ban decision:

Appeal to children: Disposable vapes are brightly coloured and often take up residence at the till of a shop, making them easy and appealing for teenagers to buy. By branching out into a wide range of flavours, vape manufacturers (intentionally or not) employ the ‘collect ‘em all’ strategy popular with teenagers. Since vaping is intended to help people suffering with addiction wean off cigarettes, appealing e-cigarettes to non-smokers can cause the opposite effect - especially when the vape contains nicotine!

Fire risk: Between 2020 and 2024, 1,051 fires were connected to disposable vapes across the UK. Vapes pose a fire risk due to their lithium-ion batteries, which frequently lack thermal cut-offs and other features intended to reduce the fire risk. This makes them cheap to produce and to buy, but hazardous to store and dispose of.

A surge in plastic waste: According to the BBC, five million vapes are thrown away every week in the UK. Assuming most models weigh around 30 grams, that’s 150,000 kilograms of mixed plastic and battery waste heading to waste disposal plants in the UK - every week! Not all vapes are responsibly disposed of either, causing batteries to burst, leak or set on fire in transit or at landfill sites.

What types of vape will be available after the ban?

The ban doesn’t target reusable vapes which can be refilled with pods or liquid. This is because e-cigarettes like this are more expensive, harder for teenagers to buy and are thrown away at a much lower frequency than their single-use counterparts. If you vape regularly, you don’t have to worry about losing access forever; reusable models will be around for some time yet. 

Can you recycle vapes?

When it comes to rubbish, vapes are just like batteries: volatile and dangerous. They can’t be placed into an average recycling bin, and they shouldn’t be put into public bins or thrown away with other waste. Despite this, disposable vapes are recyclable, and they can be taken to purpose-built vape recycling points at shops and tips near you. Here are a few of the components that can (and can’t) be recycled when it comes to single use vapes.

Metal coils

All vapes - both single-use and reusable - contain metal coils designed to heat up and vaporise the liquid (hence the name!). Vape coils can be made of a wide range of metals, from iron-chromium-aluminium alloys to nickel, titanium and stainless steel. Nearly every metal (and metal alloy) on Earth can be recycled, and doing so reduces the strain on mining operations that are in themselves damaging to the environment. It’s a win-win!

Plastic case

Polycarbonate plastic is used in the majority of recyclable vapes, creating a tough and hardy casing that prevents liquid and heat from escaping. Polycarbonate is fully recyclable.   It can be shredded and melted down without a complicated extraction process. It can be repurposed into anything from car headlights to skylights!

Battery

One of the greatest challenges to disposable vape recycling is the battery. It’s also the main reason why vapes can’t be recycled with household waste and should only be taken to e-cig recycling points: batteries tend to set on fire when agitated in transit. Despite this, they can still be recycled if handled properly, and they serve as a valuable source of cadmium, lead, nickel and battery acid.

Liquid

E-liquid is not recyclable. When liquid is left inside a vape, it needs to be extracted and disposed of separately before the e-cigarette can be processed. Luckily, most disposable vapes are used up before they’re disposed of - and if they aren’t, it’s not too difficult to remove the liquid and recycle the capsule it came in.

Where do you dispose of vapes?

There are plenty of ways to dispose of single use vapes responsibly, even if they require more effort than throwing them into a general rubbish bin. The good news is you won’t have to throw out all your old vapes for much longer - the components of reusable vapes are much easier to remove and dispose of individually.

Vape recycling points

According to the law, any shop that sells disposable vapes needs to offer a ‘take-back’ scheme to dispose of used and defunct items. If you regularly buy your vapes from a corner shop or a vape-specific retailer, you should be able to take all your used items back to them and hand them over across the till. You can also recycle disposable vapes at deposit points provided by large supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op.

Household waste recycling centres

Most tips will have a drop-off point specific to WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) rubbish. Disposable vapes can usually be left here, if you’ve checked that your recycling centre can accept them in advance. Your tip will usually have an employee at the gate; be honest about delivering vapes and ask where you need to put them to dispose of them safely.