Charity talks to Suffolk students about harm of disposable vapes

Oct 15, 2024

Disposable vapes have been described as “proper sketchy” by a student after an eco-charity launched a campaign to highlight the harm they have on the environment.

Groundwork East, which has a base in Ipswich, took its Single Use Sucks initiative to the University of Suffolk to encourage students to stop using throwaway vapes.

The non-profit organisation said five million vapes were thrown away every week, which is the equivalent to the amount of lithium in 5,000 electric vehicle batteries being discarded every year.

Student Teddy Lowes, 20, said: “In my accommodation there are just empty vapes everywhere which have just been thrown around, so you get less rubbish with the non-disposable ones."

Emily Platt, from Groundwork East, said: “[Disposable vapes] are sent to landfill and then all these chemical elements seep into the environment and create damage for both wildlife and humans.”

She added: “Vapes have become a part of night culture and if you start looking down at the floor you will see how big the issue is – there are just vapes discarded everywhere.

“They have become an attractive thing to have and they are more like a trend now – if your friend has a different flavour your might try it and then buy it yourself.”

According to statistics from Action on Smoking and Health, in 2024 18% of young people aged 11-17 have tried vaping, which amounts to about 980,000 children.

Jane Herbert, who is the manager of the charity’s campaigns and awareness team, said: “They are like a fashion item and they are easy – people just use it and then throw it away, so we are trying to make people aware that they should be recycling vapes.

“If we can recycle them then they will go back into the system as opposed to becoming damaging to the environment.”

Mr Lowes, who is a law student at the University of Suffolk and smokes cigarettes, said single-use vapes were “awful”.

He added: “They are proper sketchy. When you buy liquids for an actual vape you know pretty much everything that is going into it.

“But the disposable ones are just plug in and play, grab and go, and you don’t really know what is in them.

“Anyone who has one doesn’t really think about [the environment]. If they did they wouldn’t buy them.”

A 20-year-old criminology student at the university, who wished to not provide her full name, said she used to use disposable vapes but has since transitioned to a reusable one instead.

She said: “I used to have loads in my room and I actually didn’t really know what to do with them. So I got a proper reusable vape and it’s a lot better.

“Sometimes you drive down the road at night and you see these little flashing lights and it is people just chucking their vapes out their car windows.

“It’s a big thing now because they are so convenient. You go to a shop and they have so many flavours and colours and everything is so eye-catching for younger people.”

Another student, who wished to remain anonymous and was using a disposable vape when interviewed, said she vaped because “everyone else is doing it and it has become a habit”.

“You don’t have to light up a fag and then stink of fags and there’s no dirty, ashy taste of a cigarette,” she said.

“Do I think about the environment? No, if I am honest about it. I don’t really care.”

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