I’m a UK vaper (former smoker) and while I’m sure I’m going to find this annoying (disposables are helpful in a pinch when your proper vape has run out of battery or liquid), it’s clearly the right thing to do.
The e-waste involved in that sub-industry must be absolutely horrifying. Tens of millions of tiny little batteries, surrounded in plastic, lingering quantities of nicotine-rich liquids…
I'm not sure how it is in the UK, but in the USA it's also next to impossible to find a disposable vape that doesn't have an insanely high amount of nicotine. If anyone is unfortunate enough to try a disposable as their introduction to nicotine, they'll be as hooked as a pack a day smoker in no time. I switched to vaping after the pandemic and saw in realtime vapes come out with higher and higher nicotine levels, replacing the lower nic vapes on the shelves.
The only reason I had to use disposables was that I couldn't get replacement coils & nicotine juice for several months. They can't use traditional shippers, and the services they use vary wildly in quality; I probably still have a shipment gathering dust in a storage warehouse after several failed delivery attempts. For anyone trying to quit smoking, my best advice would be to go to a vape store that has a lot of custom vape equipment and not just peddling disposables. They should be able to tell how much nicotine salt / freebase liquid you should use given your current smoking habits and goals for quitting.
I was an occasional nicotine vaper, usually when taking a T break. The flavor was alright, and I couldn't feel much if anything from the hits in the 3-5% concentration range for e-juice. I never had problems just putting the device away for weeks at a time while enjoying other vices. I picked up some disposables while traveling and the experience was completely different. The flavor profile was much more rich. Things actually tasted fruity. More like a juice than the hint of a flavor I was used to from the freebase liquids I had tried. It hits far smoother. In addition I got a buzz from nicotine in a way I had never experienced before. I was literally high off my first few strong puffs. I don't get high anymore. But I also can't put it away anymore. After a day without, I'm almost constantly thinking about it. Freebase liquids do absolutely nothing to help divert my attention. Supposedly the nicotine salt vape is also only 5%. But holy shit does it feel different.
This is a bit of a US problem. The UK and many other countries limit the strength and amount of vape juice, so they are weaker and give fewer puffs. There's a lot of evidence that this reduces the addictiveness.
I also noticed that the flavors I'd get in disposables taste a lot more "chemical" than the ones you can find for a vape mod. I suspect that people buying them in a pinch makes them a lot less discerning about what ends up in them.
It's also possibly to do with the fact that disposables are almost universally nic salts, where as mod juices are usually freebase nic, and that can affect the flavor.
(Of course, I might be wrong, since it's been nearly a decade since I paid attention to the vape scene)
It might work if nicotine wasn't addictive. And because it is, the rational actor hypothesis goes out of the window, and taxing it is just going to hurt poor people who are addicted to nicotine.
How would an additional tax address this? Paying more would hardly reduce usage, and definitely won't incentivize users to dispose of vape pens more responsibly.
Tax is one big pool of money and I doubt the money will be used to fix the issues created.
A similar idea, carbon taxes and carbon credits trading seemed politically dead at least in my country even though it is a fantastic idea.
Edit: what might work is a 5-10 British pound ransom, released on return of the disposible to a recycling centre. Give the used devices free to a reclaiming merchant that operates out of the same country.
Yeah, same. I'm all up for a "free country", and all that. But this was just absurd. I wonder if 30+ years don't the line, if maybe resources are scarcer, we'll think about these and say: "we were fucking crazy"
The earth is pretty big, and vape batteries are tiny, and we keep finding substitutes.
I'm all for reducing waste, but it seems unlikely we'll run out of metals in our lifetimes.
Keep in mind, things keep getting more efficient, and rich nations are finally tending toward using LESS per capita.
Sure, the poor nations might eventually become rich and the global population has not yet peeked, but there's no reason to assume our materials usage will grow exponentially forever.
And, even if you assumed we were going to run out of whatever is in these tiny vape pens - the percentage of all usage going to tiny applications like this is a rounding error. It's not what you would attack if you really wanted to move the needle.
You'd probably try to reduce the number of people buying new cars, for example.
The UK isn't a 'free country' in the way American's use the term. It took me a few years of living in America to understand the nuance. I think the 'freedoms' Americans have raises it's own problems for society (eg guns) and there isn't a right or wrong, just different.
The joke I always like to make is that in the US everything is legal unless the government legislates to say you can't, in Europe everything is illegal unless the government legislates to say you can. :D
I have a different thought about that kind of stuff in that in 100 years or so landfills will probably be literal gold mines (or whatever else you're looking for).
An ex of mine used disposable vapes and I was shocked by how beautifully designed some of them are - transparent covers with visible inner workings reminiscent of the Nothing phones; custom multi-segment displays for battery and temperature status; original artwork printed in vibrant color on the side. It made me even angrier that these things are meant to just be used once and then thrown out. Of course putting all this e-waste into the environment is a disaster, but to then also treat art and design as similarly disposable feels heartbreakingly cynical on another level entirely.
I collected a few that she was going to throw out, someday™ I'll build some driver boards for the displays and make a little art piece out of them.
If they're anything like the US, even though sales to children are banned, kids still get their hands on it. I have a family member who works directly with children and they constantly find kids vaping in the restrooms. At some point adults are distributing vapes to children despite the legality.
If the most modulatable link in the supply chain is sales to adults who then distribute to children, that's unfortunately going to be the point that lawmakers target. Sucks to give people a chance and then be shown why we were wrong.
It's weird how the article (and perhaps the law itself?) frame it as being "for the children".
Disposable vapes are an environmental disaster. If this new law forces the manufacturers to add a 5 cents usb port to recharge them or force them to make the cell removable so it can be charged (disposable vapes already use rechargeable cells, they just can't be charged currently), it's a win for everybody.
When I was a kid, there was a black market for trading cards, candy, cigarettes, and blunts in school. Schools are a lot like prisons, where the poorer kids needed a hustle to eat. Some kids were making tons of money selling to other kids in school. Mostly legal stuff, but some illegal. Usually they had an older brother to supply them with stuff they couldn't get on their own.
>Sucks to give people a chance and then be shown why we were wrong.
Is this just clumsy wording or a dog whistle for how you think society ought to be structured?
Because if the latter I take serious issue with the implied assumptions about the relationship between the government and the people.
Yeah, smoking is bad and vaping is only a little better but it's a pretty mild problem as far as societal ills go, adults are adults and you don't get to screw everyone because of a few bad actors.
Profiteers had no problem. Vapers had no problem. The government had a problem.
This shows democracy actually working IMO. You elect people you trust and then they do the right thing despite individual people not doing that collectively.
There are plenty of people with motor issues where a straw really does mean having the freedom to drink on your own. Also, in the US, ice is more popular to add to your drink and a straw means not getting blasted with a bunch of ice.
in the US most people drink stuff with a ton of ice. it stops the ice from hitting your mouth/teeth when you drink. it's also easier to drink in a moving vehicle with a straw and not risk stuff splashing all over you
I'm not sure this will actually end up changing much because of how they've carved out exceptions for refillable or rechargeable devices. I don't vape nicotine but I occasionally buy a disposable THC vape, and nearly every one of them is technically rechargeable despite the fact that the charge generally lasts the life of the cartridge and there's no use for it afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if UK vape vendors simply make minor changes to be compliant without really changing the product.
Aside from the health/chemical-pollution aspects, these things have simply resulted in such ugliness because I see them strewn all over the ground every day.
Apparently "disposable" means "throw on the ground".
The overlap between "Uses nicotine" and "Just throws plastic shit on the ground" is astonishing. You do not see nearly as much littering from weed smokers for example.
>The ban will not apply to rechargeable or refillable devices.
My impression was that these make up the lion's share of "disposable" vape sales. I've certainly never known anyone to use anything else, but I'm also not 14 and vaping in the bathroom.
I wonder if they meant 'and' because yes, many high capacity disposable vapes are technically rechargeable as the batteries don't last as long as the liquid.
They could have played with incentives and monetary returns on used devices, same we do with deposits for empty cans or bottles and let the manufactures deal with all the waste/recycling. These disposable devices are clearly an environment problem. Where I am, NY, I've seen thrown all over the place and at first I had no idea what they were. I picked up one thinking it was some kind of device someone lost. I did the right thing and put it in a trash can but then recycling thoughts came to mind. I'm all in for punishing the companies that manufacture these, large fines are needed from discouraging them creating future problems like these.
> I did the right thing and put it in a trash can but then recycling thoughts came to mind.
Is it the right thing to do? AFAIK you're not supposed to put lithium batteries in general waste because if they get damaged in processing they can start a fire, especially if they have a lingering amount of charge in them, which empty disposable vapes probably do.
I don't think that prevents a programme to encourage responsible disposal. A $5 deposit on these vapes would get people to return them, and they could be recycled en masse even if it does cost more.
Readit News
The e-waste involved in that sub-industry must be absolutely horrifying. Tens of millions of tiny little batteries, surrounded in plastic, lingering quantities of nicotine-rich liquids…
Glad this is happening.
I’ll take the inconvenience on the chin lol
The only reason I had to use disposables was that I couldn't get replacement coils & nicotine juice for several months. They can't use traditional shippers, and the services they use vary wildly in quality; I probably still have a shipment gathering dust in a storage warehouse after several failed delivery attempts. For anyone trying to quit smoking, my best advice would be to go to a vape store that has a lot of custom vape equipment and not just peddling disposables. They should be able to tell how much nicotine salt / freebase liquid you should use given your current smoking habits and goals for quitting.
In the end it was Allen Carr’s book that got me off them, and it was surprisingly easy.
The author died in 2006 so I wouldn’t even feel too bad about pirating it, I’m quite sure he wouldn’t mind.
(Of course, I might be wrong, since it's been nearly a decade since I paid attention to the vape scene)
Tax is one big pool of money and I doubt the money will be used to fix the issues created.
A similar idea, carbon taxes and carbon credits trading seemed politically dead at least in my country even though it is a fantastic idea.
Edit: what might work is a 5-10 British pound ransom, released on return of the disposible to a recycling centre. Give the used devices free to a reclaiming merchant that operates out of the same country.
Deleted Comment
The human cost of making them doesn't look great either...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQacZNc33r8
The earth is pretty big, and vape batteries are tiny, and we keep finding substitutes.
I'm all for reducing waste, but it seems unlikely we'll run out of metals in our lifetimes.
Keep in mind, things keep getting more efficient, and rich nations are finally tending toward using LESS per capita.
Sure, the poor nations might eventually become rich and the global population has not yet peeked, but there's no reason to assume our materials usage will grow exponentially forever.
And, even if you assumed we were going to run out of whatever is in these tiny vape pens - the percentage of all usage going to tiny applications like this is a rounding error. It's not what you would attack if you really wanted to move the needle.
You'd probably try to reduce the number of people buying new cars, for example.
The joke I always like to make is that in the US everything is legal unless the government legislates to say you can't, in Europe everything is illegal unless the government legislates to say you can. :D
Deleted Comment
I collected a few that she was going to throw out, someday™ I'll build some driver boards for the displays and make a little art piece out of them.
The Geek Bar Pulse has the custom multi-segment on the side: https://oss.geekbar.com/products/meloso-ultra/2/Orange%20Cre...
If the most modulatable link in the supply chain is sales to adults who then distribute to children, that's unfortunately going to be the point that lawmakers target. Sucks to give people a chance and then be shown why we were wrong.
Disposable vapes are an environmental disaster. If this new law forces the manufacturers to add a 5 cents usb port to recharge them or force them to make the cell removable so it can be charged (disposable vapes already use rechargeable cells, they just can't be charged currently), it's a win for everybody.
The tank is larger than the battery would burn without a recharge, but not refillable.
Is this just clumsy wording or a dog whistle for how you think society ought to be structured?
Because if the latter I take serious issue with the implied assumptions about the relationship between the government and the people.
Yeah, smoking is bad and vaping is only a little better but it's a pretty mild problem as far as societal ills go, adults are adults and you don't get to screw everyone because of a few bad actors.
> Ministers in England said the move [...] is intended to protect children's health and prevent environmental damage.
Profiteers had no problem. Vapers had no problem. The government had a problem.
This shows democracy actually working IMO. You elect people you trust and then they do the right thing despite individual people not doing that collectively.
Apparently "disposable" means "throw on the ground".
My impression was that these make up the lion's share of "disposable" vape sales. I've certainly never known anyone to use anything else, but I'm also not 14 and vaping in the bathroom.
Is it the right thing to do? AFAIK you're not supposed to put lithium batteries in general waste because if they get damaged in processing they can start a fire, especially if they have a lingering amount of charge in them, which empty disposable vapes probably do.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5zn6v2567o