Disposable vapes still cause bin lorry fires a year into ban

Vapes are still fuelling a surge in bin lorry fires across the country despite disposable devices being scrapped last year, councils are warning.

The disposable vape ban came in on June 1 last year, but more than six million vapes are still thrown away each week.

Bin lorry fires across the country have increased over the same period, the Local Government Association (LGA) said.

This is often caused by lithium-ion batteries in rechargeable vapes sparking when crushed or damaged, it said.

Wendy Taylor, the chair of the LGA’s health

‘A year on, the volume of vapes in our bins has dropped, but industry has moved faster than regulation – the products causing fires in our bin lorries today are effectively the same disposables in a different shell.

‘Councils are bearing the cost of contaminated recycling and dangerous fires, with residents ultimately paying through council tax instead of producers and retailers.

‘Year one of the ban has shown what regulation alone can achieve. 

‘Year two must focus on enforcement, producer responsibility, and closing this industry loophole to keep rechargeable vapes out of our waste system, preventing further fires and reducing unnecessary local resource drain.’

A lack of public awareness is adding to the problem, the group said. 

Some 47% of vape users do not know the devices can be recycled.

Meanwhile, among the people who have tried returning vapes in the supermarket, just 53% said they could do so consistently.

That is despite retailers being legally required to offer take-back schemes.

The LGA said the number of vapes thrown away each week has decreased significantly, as it was 8.2 million weekly before the ban.

It comes after Metro revealed that the lithium-ion batteries from vapes are being shipped to Ukraine to help with the war effort against Russia.

There, volunteers strip them down and rebuild them into power banks for frontline soldiers.

One worker said the power banks are ‘saving lives, because soldiers don’t have to run back frequently to recharge equipment, which potentially draws fire.’

Before the ban, an estimated 40 tons of lithium from disposable vapes were discarded in the UK in a single year, enough to power 5,000 electric vehicles. 

About 6,000 UK vapes had already been shipped to the Lviv workshop as of May, with thousands more to follow.

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