Ecology vs Disposable Electronic Cigarette

[ElectronicSupersonic]

Full disclaimer! I do not smoke, neither I do encourage anybody to smoke. Smoking is unhealthy!

Locally it's common place to find discarded disposable electronic cigarettes (DEC). Usually in public trash bins. Together with old-fashioned cigarette buds.

These days in western civilisation ecology is the hottest topic. With every major business virtues signalling how much it cares about ecology (carbon neutrality and such). When we have this thing - DEC. Take a look at the attached image. That's how a typical DEC looks like disassembled.

Compared to the classic cigarette, it most certainly doesn't scream ecology (not that classic cigarettes are eco friendly, but still) . And yet these things are discarded left, right and centre into common garbage bins. 

Hypocrisy in its finest!

[Haenk]

Just awful.

[BrokenYugo]

These all in one throwaway units should really have a fairly substantial deposit (5 bucks?) attached to encourage proper disposal.

[AVGresponding]

The rechargeable Li-ion cells in them are a particularly egregious waste. Big Clive has some videos on this and how to reuse them.

[RJSV]

U.S. is STILL trying (barely) to figure out PROHIBITION.
  I've seen some advanced thinking folks, who believe in a concept called 'Harm Reduction'.
   You can buy all the alcohol you want., over on aisle #2.

[RJSV]

Um, just to clarify:
   I think tobacco is the worst, for shortened life-spans;
Just ask Sir George Harrison (r.i.p. at 57),  or ask
   Eddie Van Halen.  Shortened lives.
   An e-cig deposit, plus a subtle little 'factoid' sheet with every purchase, isn't too much burden.

[victorb]

I used to smoke regular cigarettes and knew it was bad for the planet because of all the litter. That's one reason I switched to vaping. It made me feel better health-wise, and I thought it was a bit better for the environment too.

I've noticed more people around me vaping instead of smoking, which seems to reduce the litter from cigarette butts. But there's still a problem with throwing away used vapes. For over five years, I've been using Lostmary Vapes, and it's been good for me. I like thinking I'm doing something a little better for the earth. Plus, vaping has helped my health, and it's nice to see others choosing it too, hopefully making things a bit cleaner.

[themadhippy]

cant understand people bothering with the disposables,at a  rough guesstimate  i recouped the cost of my vape in about 2 months compared to using disposables.

[SiliconWizard]

cant understand people bothering with the disposables,at a  rough guesstimate  i recouped the cost of my vape in about 2 months compared to using disposables.

Disposables are a disaster from an environmnental perspective, and just for common sense and the consumers' finances.
The reason they appeared is just like for the industrial cigarettes decades ago: it's a potential goldmine for manufacturers, and (some, many for the cigarettes) consumers fall for it because it's quick and easy: no preparation, no maintenance, no nothing.

[Andy Chee]

cant understand people bothering with the disposables

As it is with anything disposable, such as disposable film cameras, or disposable plastic cutlery, or disposable nappies, it all comes down to convenience.

Although disposable vapes may have marginal environmental benefit when compared to cigarettes, disposable vapes do NOT have an environmental benefit when compared to reusable vapes.

In any case, the majority of environmental benefit originates from the user, not the product.  A lazy smoker discarding cigarette butts onto the ground, is no different to a lazy vaper discarding disposable vapes into the regular trash.

[magic]

Although disposable vapes may have marginal environmental benefit when compared to cigarettes, disposable vapes do NOT have an environmental benefit when compared to reusable vapes.

I don't understand in which universe is a coctail of chemicals in the battery and a bunch of plastic and all the filth involved in manufacturing those things supposed to be "cleaner" than a pack of ordinary cigs, which is basically 100% plant material and simple processing.

I would very much prefer to go back to smokers poisoning themselves.

[Andy Chee]

Although disposable vapes may have marginal environmental benefit when compared to cigarettes, disposable vapes do NOT have an environmental benefit when compared to reusable vapes.

I don't understand in which universe is a coctail of chemicals in the battery and a bunch of plastic and all the filth involved in manufacturing those things supposed to be "cleaner" than a pack of ordinary cigs, which is basically 100% plant material and simple processing.

I would very much prefer to go back to smokers poisoning themselves.

You are assuming that smokers are correctly disposing of the cigarette butts.  In Australia, our cigarette smokers drop their butts onto the ground, which makes its way into storm water drains and waterways, eventually washing back up on the beach, or eaten by wildlife.  And sometimes the non-extinguished butts are thrown into dry grassland, igniting bushfires.

Either way, discarded butt waste is the bane of ecological damage.

[magic]

The assumption that they properly dispose of disposable vapes is equally wrong

Butts are biodegradable at least.

[Andy Chee]

Butts are biodegradable at least.

No they are not.

The assumption that they properly dispose of disposable vapes is equally wrong

I'm not necessarily assuming that either, but the evidence here speaks otherwise i.e. I've only picked up about a dozen or so vapes off the street and salvaged the batteries for my collection, compared to thousands of cigarette butts on the street.

[themadhippy]

Quote from: magic on Today at 01:41:52 pm

    Butts are biodegradable at least.

No they are not.

the filter is the worst offender,the rest is just plant material.

[ebastler]

Quote from: magic on Today at 01:41:52 pm

    Butts are biodegradable at least.

No they are not.

the filter is the worst offender,the rest is just plant material.

By the way: Quoting on this forum is best done via the "Quote" link each post has, right next to the "Reply" link. That inserts a proper quote, with a headline that links to the source of the quote, and with nested quotes inside if applicable. It always starts as a full quote of the respective post, but you can edit it for brevity of course.

[SiliconWizard]

Quote from: magic on Today at 01:41:52 pm

    Butts are biodegradable at least.

No they are not.

the filter is the worst offender,the rest is just plant material.

Well, even the bad filter is candy compared to all materials in a disposable e-cig.

[Kleinstein]

With a lithium cell they should not land in normal waste. Especially if not completely empty  (the user can't tell the difference between empty and broken heater) it is a fire hazzard in the waste.

[tszaboo]

I've read a study about a decade ago that Li-Ion batteries were several times worse for the environment than Li metal primaries. So you need to make sure it is charged and used maybe half a dozen times to break even. Then there is the safety aspect. I don't know if it's an issue of current capability, lack of understanding or price why they are not used for throwaway items like these.

These all in one throwaway units should really have a fairly substantial deposit (5 bucks?) attached to encourage proper disposal.

I'm a bit puzzled that our politicians thought that placing 5 cent deposit on alu beer cans was a good idea and they do nothing about this. They were collected and recycled anyway in the past. And now you cannot just crush it.

[Rick Law]

Trouble with the disposable society we are in now...

From E-Cig to dish washer to refrigerator to even cars.  Everything is made to be throw away after a short life.  With the advancement in manufacturing technologies, making a new one is cheap.  Keeping it going is too expensive.  Disposable E-Cig is guilty but hardly alone.  Average minds have been conditioned to expect things not to be durable.

Looking at present day appliances, so many of them are tied to Apps, which has life expectancy tied to the phone's version, the battery, the manufacturer being around, the ability of Google/Apple supporting certain outdated function, so on, so on... whichever is shortest.

Less than a week ago (Feb 22), AT&T has a nation wide network 11 hours long outage/disruption.  I suppose some would have been unable to unlock their front door; some might have been hungry because they can't order their lunch or dinner; some might have been wondering for 11 hours how dirty his/her clothing must be since the phone still hasn't told them their wash is done...

I recalled years ago in the office, we used to joke about "can you imagine needing to reboot your coffee maker?"  Now it is reality.

May be someday and hopefully someday soon, durability will come back in fashion rather than today's domination of modernity of design.

[RJSV]

   Yes, RickLaw, I see that kind of 'Tech Decay' (and searching for a good, coined term to describe).   I've been using, temporarily, the known common-term, 'Dumb Ass', privately, to connotate a truly smart person or trend, that fails in some common sense level.
Doctors that don't have the social exposure that teaches that all street drugs NOT same, regardless of truly scientifically established 'overdose' and fatality numbers.  Or watched any of the riveting 'Breaking Bad' episodes....
   Dumb+Ass in waste and toxics professions might mean overemphasis on small, apparent waste issues, meanwhile ignoring the large but similar content, like plastic milk and water / beverage containers.
   One of my pet peeves, is how some municipalities can, like, re-consolodate the separated trash routes, back into one big steaming pile, at the waste management site....or was that just a myth going around ?

[Andy Chee]

One of my pet peeves, is how some municipalities can, like, re-consolodate the separated trash routes, back into one big steaming pile, at the waste management site....or was that just a myth going around ?

That often happens where I live.  It's usually because the depot has reached its capacity limit in terms of processing recyclables (for whatever reason, staff shortage, equipment malfunction, etc).  So instead the separated trash gets combined again and the entire lot goes to landfill.

[SiliconWizard]

One of my pet peeves, is how some municipalities can, like, re-consolodate the separated trash routes, back into one big steaming pile, at the waste management site....or was that just a myth going around ?

That often happens where I live.  It's usually because the depot has reached its capacity limit in terms of processing recyclables (for whatever reason, staff shortage, equipment malfunction, etc).  So instead the separated trash gets combined again and the entire lot goes to landfill.

Yes, and meanwhile, they increasingly mandate that people sort their waste and some municipalities can now even fine people if they don't do it properly. And yes, in many cases, a singificant proportion of the sorted waste ends up getting mixed together again. So is the fact that people comply more important than the end result? (I'll ask my favorite sheep.)

[helius]

Less than a week ago (Feb 22), AT&T has a nation wide network 11 hours long outage/disruption.  I suppose some would have been unable to unlock their front door; some might have been hungry because they can't order their lunch or dinner; some might have been wondering for 11 hours how dirty his/her clothing must be since the phone still hasn't told them their wash is done...

I recalled years ago in the office, we used to joke about "can you imagine needing to reboot your coffee maker?"  Now it is reality.

The irony is that this scenario is not any kind of surprise. E.M. Forster wrote "The Machine Stops" over a hundred years ago.
The reason it is inevitable is because the logic of short-term profit (known as finance capitalism or financialization) does not allow any room for durability or resiliency as goals. When things work, the profits are privatized through asset management firms. When they break down, the losses are socialized and bailed out by the taxpayers. The only way out is for a collapse of the entire economic system, which today does not look that far off.

[Andy Chee]

This is the scene along a freeway concrete dividing barrier.