03-22-2023, 09:25 PM
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https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325
It was the sickly sweet scent lingering outside the school toilets that first alerted headteacher Dan Cleary to an emerging trend when pupils returned after the summer holiday last year. Since then, rarely does a fortnight go by when he does not have to discipline a student for stashing a “vape”, or electronic cigarette, in their backpack or blazer pocket.
Over the past decade, sales of e-cigarettes have grown as vaping has cemented its status as a less harmful way to consume nicotine than traditional cigarettes. But in recent years, a new generation of brightly coloured single-use devices with flavours like “cotton candy” and “green gummy bear” have become incredibly popular among young people, including those not old enough to legally buy them.
Enticed by Chinese-owned disposable vape brands such as Geek Bar, Elf Bar and Lost Mary, 18 per cent of 15-year-olds in England and Wales were using e-cigarettes in February last year — an all-time high, according to the NHS. Overall, the number of 11- to 17-year-olds who were vaping in Britain more than doubled last year from 3.3 per cent in 2021 to 7 per cent.
The latest vaping craze is hardening fears that the devices could get underage users hooked on nicotine. But it has also created a whole new problem: tonnes of electronic waste.
Unlike Juul, the previous market leader which was blamed for sparking a “vaping epidemic” among US teenagers, these e-cigarettes cannot be reused or recharged. The devices are often discarded like cigarette butts outside the school gates, says Cleary, principal at Robert Smyth Academy in Leicestershire.
The materials in single-use vapes could have a valuable second life if recycled properly. Each device contains about 0.15g of lithium in its battery, a metal classified as a “critical” raw material by the US and EU. The International Energy Agency has warned it could be in short supply within two years as manufacturers race to scale up electric car production.
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https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325
More than 90 tonnes of lithium were used in the production of the $5bn worth of single-use vapes sold globally last year, according to Financial Times estimates based on data from the research group Euromonitor, the consultancy ECigIntelligence and the electricals recycling non-profit Material Focus. That equates to enough lithium to supply more than 11,000 electric vehicle batteries. They also contained roughly 1,160 tonnes of copper, enough for 1.6mn home electric vehicle chargers.
“If you wanted to invent a product to expose what’s rotten with the vaping industry, disposable vapes would be it,” says Shane MacGuill, head of nicotine research at Euromonitor.
The products are a major money-spinner, especially for companies based in Shenzhen, the heartland of China’s $28bn vapour industry. They have made entrepreneur Zhang Shengwei, 49, a fortune off the back of his majority ownership of Shenzhen iMiracle Technology and Heaven Gifts International, the companies behind both Elf Bar and Lost Mary.
Yet manufacturers globally have made little effort to enable the recycling of their products and prevent a precious resource from ending up in landfills. In the UK, the vast majority of smaller vape manufacturers and distributors are not registered to comply with legal obligations to fund recycling, according to new analysis by Material Focus shared with the FT.
Green Fun Alliance, a UK-based distributor owned by the company behind Elf Bar and Lost Mary, only registered late last year despite selling the products in the UK for about two years. Its £600mn of sales accounted for more than 70 per cent of the UK disposable vape market in 2022. An Elf Bar representative says the brand is “dedicated to environmental protection”.
https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325
It was the sickly sweet scent lingering outside the school toilets that first alerted headteacher Dan Cleary to an emerging trend when pupils returned after the summer holiday last year. Since then, rarely does a fortnight go by when he does not have to discipline a student for stashing a “vape”, or electronic cigarette, in their backpack or blazer pocket.
Over the past decade, sales of e-cigarettes have grown as vaping has cemented its status as a less harmful way to consume nicotine than traditional cigarettes. But in recent years, a new generation of brightly coloured single-use devices with flavours like “cotton candy” and “green gummy bear” have become incredibly popular among young people, including those not old enough to legally buy them.
Enticed by Chinese-owned disposable vape brands such as Geek Bar, Elf Bar and Lost Mary, 18 per cent of 15-year-olds in England and Wales were using e-cigarettes in February last year — an all-time high, according to the NHS. Overall, the number of 11- to 17-year-olds who were vaping in Britain more than doubled last year from 3.3 per cent in 2021 to 7 per cent.
The latest vaping craze is hardening fears that the devices could get underage users hooked on nicotine. But it has also created a whole new problem: tonnes of electronic waste.
Unlike Juul, the previous market leader which was blamed for sparking a “vaping epidemic” among US teenagers, these e-cigarettes cannot be reused or recharged. The devices are often discarded like cigarette butts outside the school gates, says Cleary, principal at Robert Smyth Academy in Leicestershire.
The materials in single-use vapes could have a valuable second life if recycled properly. Each device contains about 0.15g of lithium in its battery, a metal classified as a “critical” raw material by the US and EU. The International Energy Agency has warned it could be in short supply within two years as manufacturers race to scale up electric car production.
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325
More than 90 tonnes of lithium were used in the production of the $5bn worth of single-use vapes sold globally last year, according to Financial Times estimates based on data from the research group Euromonitor, the consultancy ECigIntelligence and the electricals recycling non-profit Material Focus. That equates to enough lithium to supply more than 11,000 electric vehicle batteries. They also contained roughly 1,160 tonnes of copper, enough for 1.6mn home electric vehicle chargers.
“If you wanted to invent a product to expose what’s rotten with the vaping industry, disposable vapes would be it,” says Shane MacGuill, head of nicotine research at Euromonitor.
The products are a major money-spinner, especially for companies based in Shenzhen, the heartland of China’s $28bn vapour industry. They have made entrepreneur Zhang Shengwei, 49, a fortune off the back of his majority ownership of Shenzhen iMiracle Technology and Heaven Gifts International, the companies behind both Elf Bar and Lost Mary.
Yet manufacturers globally have made little effort to enable the recycling of their products and prevent a precious resource from ending up in landfills. In the UK, the vast majority of smaller vape manufacturers and distributors are not registered to comply with legal obligations to fund recycling, according to new analysis by Material Focus shared with the FT.
Green Fun Alliance, a UK-based distributor owned by the company behind Elf Bar and Lost Mary, only registered late last year despite selling the products in the UK for about two years. Its £600mn of sales accounted for more than 70 per cent of the UK disposable vape market in 2022. An Elf Bar representative says the brand is “dedicated to environmental protection”.