While many focus on the potential health risks of Juul vape devices, experts are more concerned about the technology’s environmental impact.
Juul, the current powerhouse in the e-cigarette community, is a small device with a lithium-polymer battery and refill pods made of non-recyclable plastic.
An estimated two million of pods are thrown away each year.
Since the pen has similar technology to a smartphone it needs to be disposed at an electronic waste facility, but experts believe they are ending up in landfills.
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Vaping is not just a health epidemic, it has also become an environmental disaster. Juul, the current powerhouse in the e-cigarette community, is a small device with a lithium-polymer rechargeable battery and refill pods made of non-recyclable plastic
Juul has sold over 162 million devices and has even hit 20 million in a single month.
The San Francisco company accounts for at least 54 percent of the e-cigarette market, which places it at the front of what experts are calling an environmental disaster.
Patrick Diamond, vice chair of Surfrider NYC, told Tim Donnelly with Earther in an email that while he hasn’t kept specific statistics, vape paraphernalia is ‘now joining cigarette butts and other items as beach trash and plastic pollution which means they will make their way into the ocean as more plastic pollution.’
Each Juul pod contains about 200 puffs and are not intended to be reused, according to the firm’s website – they cannot be recycled either because they contain the toxin nicotine.
Each Juul pod contain about 200 puffs each and are not intended to be reused, according to the firm’s website, and cannot be recycled as they contain the toxin nicotine
The firm has a small section dedicated to the disposal of the refills, stating they ‘should be recycled along with other e-waste’ – lending no other details nor encouragement for users to properly toss them.
However, most electronic waste facilities only accept computer recycling – primarily anything with a circuit board.
Juul does offer a little more insight into how to dispose of the vape pen.
The website reads: ‘The Juul device is designed to be reliable and strives to exceed our One Year Limited Warranty.
‘Unlike other e-cigarettes, Juul isn’t disposable and should be treated as a consumer electronic device.’
‘Follow your city’s local recommendations for disposing of a lithium-polymer rechargeable battery.’
Yogi Hale Hendlin, an environmental philosopher at University of California, told Earther that e-cigarettes are similar to smartphones in that they have complex computer circuitry, hard plastics, heavy metals and lithium ion batteries.
All of these factors deem the device worth of being accepted by an electronic waste facility, however, many owners do not think to take the USB-size pen to a location nor can they be bothered to.
A Juul spokesman told Earther the company is testing out a takeback and recycling program ‘to ensure we develop effective, innovative and sustainable solutions.’
He also shared with Eather that the firm is working with ‘a number of organizations and potential partners to advance our environmental sustainability efforts’.
Judith Enck, a regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency told Earther ‘Most communities do not have easy to access electronic waste return programs. I’m extremely concerned about the millions of tiny lithium ion batteries that are littered or sent to incinerators or landfills.’
The latest news seems to be the icing on the cake for the vaping community, as this past August, someone lost their life to a mysterious lung disease that has been linked to e-cigarettes. Since then, 11 people have died from similar ailments in the US
‘The rules on electronic waste are very confusing in a lot of communities. I seriously doubt most consumers are holding onto these devices and collecting them and bringing them [to a facility].’
The latest news seems to be the icing on the cake for the vaping community, as this past August, someone lost their life to a mysterious lung disease that has been linked to e-cigarettes.
Since then, 11 people have died from similar ailments in the US.
The Centers for Disease Control is currently investigating 530 reported cases of severe lung illness related to vaping.
Out of the 530 cases, the CDC has analyzed 373 and determined that that two-thirds of people with severe lung illnesses, or 67 percent are 18 to 34 years old, and 16 percent are under 18. The majority, 72 percent, are male.
The CDC said symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. These worsen over time.
