To begin with, we need to make an important distinction: there are reusable e-cigarettes with removable or rechargeable batteries, as well as disposable models with built-in batteries that you cannot recharge. The latter are particularly popular. In 2023, 8,200,000 vapes were imported to the Belgian market. Disposable vapes make up 98% of that total.
This issue will be eliminated in a few years in Belgium, however, as we are the first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes by 2025.
Until then, never throw away your disposable vape in household rubbish. If this type of built-in lithium-ion battery is damaged, it heats up to 500°C and if that happens in the rubbish truck, for example, it could be incredibly dangerous.
Also, we need those lithium-ion batteries as we can recover the lithium to make batteries for electric cars. According to research from the UK, there is enough lithium for 5,000 electric cars in disposable vapes thrown away in one year. That's important when you know that the supply of lithium in Europe is increasingly uncertain.
So take your discarded, disposable e-cigarettes to a Recupel collection point. It can then be professionally dismantled and we can reuse the raw materials. If you can remove the battery, return it separately to a Bebat collection point.
