The disposable vapes ban was a start, but we still have a long way to go

The vast majority of these fires are suspected to be caused by vapes which people have thrown in their rubbish or recycling.

In June this year, the Government banned all single-use vapes in the UK and all retailers selling vapes are now required to have special battery recycling bins. This is a welcome and important first step.

Sadly however, the reality is it has proved to have had little impact on the mountain of vapes which end up in our rubbish every day. Vapes are still an all-too-common sight dumped on the street, in bins and at recycling centres across the country. It is clear that people still treat these cheap vapes as disposable.

We need to see much bolder action from the Government and manufacturers to address this.

All vapes are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which when crushed or damaged, can ignite surrounding materials – putting our frontline teams at serious risk and causing millions of pounds of damage.

In total, battery fires cost the UK an estimated £1billion per year in damage, according to recent figures from the Environmental Services Association (ESA).

It also has a major impact for others. For example, earlier this year a lorry carrying waste operated by SUEZ caught fire after a battery ignited, requiring the fire service to tackle the blaze and causing serious delays on a Manchester ring road.

As a business we are already working with some councils to tackle this problem. Just last week we launched a kerbside collection for vapes and household batteries in Doncaster to make it easier and safer for residents to recycle them. In the first week alone, our crew collected 600kg of vapes and batteries from just half the city. But the industry cannot solve this alone.

Six months since the single-use ban was introduced, we are now calling for a more ambitious plan from the Government to tackle the environmental damage and fire risk from all vapes which, even though not marketed as disposable, are sold at a price point which makes them so.

For example, the Government now requires packaging producers to bear the responsibility for material recycling costs. A similar approach with vapes, where producers pay towards a nationwide battery recycling scheme, would increase the opportunities to discard responsibly and reduce both the amount which end up in household rubbish and the mounting costs local councils are forced to pay for collection.

Alternatively, a deposit-return scheme could have a similar effect, where consumers would pay a small charge on each vape which would be refundable at battery recycling points.

In the 30 years I’ve worked in this sector, the risk of battery fires has never been this bad. And it really could become and matter of life and death for our frontline crews if action isn’t taken.

Dr Adam Read MBE is Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer at SUEZ recycling and recovery UK