Millions of vapes still entering household waste and recycling streams

New data shared with consumer safety charity Electrical Safety First by Biffa, the UK’s largest waste management company, reveals that more than two million incorrectly discarded vapes were found at just four of its sites between June 2025 and March this year. That’s the equivalent of almost 300 vapes every hour and more than 6,500 every day.

The startling figures emerge as polling of 1,000 vapers across the UK by the charity found that more than half (59%) admitted to disposing of their vapes incorrectly in household rubbish or recycling bins over the past 12 months despite the same proportion saying they were aware that improper disposal can cause fires in bin lorries and at recycling centres.

Worryingly, of those who said they had disposed of their vapes in the household general waste bin, two-thirds (67%) admitted doing so once every week or more. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters (71%) of those who had put vapes in household recycling bins admitted doing the same, suggesting that the true number of vapes entering the waste system could be in the millions each week.

Real risk

Giuseppe Capanna, product safety engineer at Electrical Safety First, said: “Every vape thrown into the household rubbish or recycling has the potential to create very real and frightening risks for waste collection workers who are simply doing their job.”

Capanna continued: “Vapes contain lithium-ion batteries and, when they’re disposed of incorrectly, those batteries can be crushed or damaged, which can then lead to fires that have the potential to escalate rapidly and put workers at risk.”

In terms of risk mitigation, Capanna noted: “Safe disposal can start with simple changes. If you use vapes, build safe disposal into your routine. For example, every time you go to the supermarket or a vape shop, drop off your used vapes at the designated vape disposal point.”

According to Capanna: “Every household can help turn the tide on this issue by making safe disposal a habit rather than an afterthought, in turn reducing the number of dangerous batteries entering the waste stream. We urge all households to stop and think. Don’t bin the battery.”

Preventing safe disposal

While some vapers admit to safe disposal habits, including taking devices to a recycling centre or drop-off point (28%) or returning them to a shop or retailer (16%), the study findings also highlight key barriers to correct disposal.

More than a quarter (27%) said they did not know vapes needed to be disposed of in a specific way, while others assumed placing them in the bin was fine (25%) or said they lacked convenient local disposal options (21%).

As stated, vapes contain lithium-ion batteries, which can cause explosive and highly toxic fires if damaged. When thrown into household rubbish or recycling bins, vapes can be crushed, punctured or compacted during the waste process, causing the batteries inside to overheat or ignite.

These fires can spread quickly through bin lorries and recycling centres, putting workers at risk and causing major disruption as well as costly damage. Damaged batteries can also leak harmful chemicals into the environment if they’re not recycled properly.

*Further information is available online at www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk