Environmental concerns rise as vape disposal harms freshwater ecosystems

CHICAGO - There is growing concern among environmentalists about the disposal of a popular product: vapes. Experts say they're being discarded in high numbers and harming freshwater ecosystems.

Tim Hoellein, a biology professor at Loyola University Chicago, conducts research into the impact.

"In regards to trash, what we’re trying to measure is what are the sources, what is the fate [of vape materials], and how does trash interact with living things when it's in our freshwater ecosystems."

Hoellein and his team of students and researchers have been looking at the health of freshwater environments in our area for several years, categorizing the types of items they find. But roughly eight years ago, they had to make a change to how they collect data.

"We had to add a new category to our list, which was vaping-related trash," he said. "It was something we hadn’t been seeing before then. Some of these are single-use items and other times we would see the packaging that was for the refills that go into the vaping products."

Hoellein said about 40 percent of the trash they find on local beaches is made up of smoking-related products, including vaping products and cigarette butts.

"If a vape pen was littered and then ultimately crushed and the battery leached out, that could present some potential water quality issues and it could impact soil quality," said James Jennings, Deputy Director of the Illinois EPA, who adds that disposing of vaping products is a problem because of the way they are manufactured.

"Any electronic device – because of the number of components – presents disposal or recycling issues," Jennings said. "The more parts that you have, the more difficult it is to deconstruct those and then ultimately make sure that each of the individual components ends up at its appropriate end-of-life home."

One of the more challenging components to deal with is the battery, which can impact soil and water quality if not disposed of properly.

"Some of the metals will rust and corrode and may not be much of an issue," said Hoellein. "But some of the other metals – like lead and some of the other biologically-active metals – can be a long-term pollutant. These chemicals that come out of circuitry can be kind of sticky, especially in the sediments, so if they’re consumed or assimilated by some living thing, they can cause toxicity."

"Battery recovery has become a pretty significant national issue for regulators like us and also for the waste industry because of the fire concerns that batteries present," said Jennings.

Another concern is the plastic that goes into vaping devices.

"What happens to plastic in the environment is it loses its rigidity and can just break into small pieces," asid Jennings. "Eventually, it will break into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces. We call those microplastics. Microplastics are really easily moved downstream, eventually to the oceans. And these kinds of plastics can last a very long time in the environment when they have these additives that are designed for heat resistance."

The ingredients of the vaping products can also pose a risk to the environment if not handled properly.

"Nicotine and some of the other chemicals that are in there are biologically reactive," said Hoellein. "It might be dangerous for the kinds of microorganisms and very small creatures that can encounter these kinds of chemicals because they can be toxic to them."

So what's the best way to dispose of these products in an environmentally-friendly way? Alex Clark from the Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association said a good place to start may be going back to where the purchase was first made.

"Anybody who is buying these products from a specialty retailer, a vape shop, or even a tobacconist that sells vapor products, a lot of times those shops will accept devices for recycling," he said.

For the materials inside the vape cartridge, some medication and hazardous waste disposal programs will accept them.

"As a general matter, before taking any of your products to any site, you want to call ahead to confirm that they are equipped to handle them," said Jennings.

Clark urges the public to check local municipal websites for other disposal options because many offer convenient options, and also urges people to avoid single-use vapor products.

"When anyone is looking at that, I always recommend looking into open-system products. They are more durable and they’re easier to break down. Younger generations are much more environmentally-conscious, so that’s going to change buying habits," he said.

The Illinois EPA tells FOX 32 that there's currently no centralized vape drop-off program available, but that there's hope that the recycling of these devices could become more organized in the future, through partnerships with the manufacturers.