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Man Used 80 Discarded Vape Batteries to Power an Electric Scooter Proving the Importance of E-Waste
(www.goodnewsnetwork.org)
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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It’s wild that we’re wasting lithium batteries like that.
Or that they are considered disposable by the people making and buying them
These should be banned
Agreed. As somebody who vapes, myself, it drives me crazy seeing discarded batteries littering the streets around here. The only legitimate use I've seen for disposable vapes was for use in prisons. There's a company that makes disposable vapes that are designed with intentionally flimsy materials, so that no part of it can be fashioned into a weapon or be used to start fires.
But for the average, non-incarcerated user, there's no excuse for it. They're more expensive in the long run, and far worse for the environment. If you're gonna vape, just buy yourself a proper mod kit, where there is much less waste produced.
I'd also support a ban on these if the US government hadn't just completely wiped out 99% of the rest of the market with the PMTA and labeling juice and hardware as "tobacco products" even though they contain zero tobacco and aren't used to consume tobacco. Outside a handful of sketchy headshops, I can't find juice, coils, or mods anywhere in my city of 250k+ and I can't buy them online anymore either. Wiping out the disposable market, something available at your local convenience store, will probably be the final nail in the coffin for the whole industry.
Don't be alarmed though, cigarettes will still remain available at all major (and minor) retailers nationwide.
While I agree with the hardware part of it (makes it a pain in the ass to order coils online, as I have to sign for the delivery but I work nights and am usually sleeping during the 8-hour delivery window), I have to disagree when it comes to juice. I don't see an issue with that being regulated as a tobacco product, since the nicotine in most juices is still extracted from tobacco plants (usually from the same tobacco farms that provide leaf to cigarette manufacturers), and the sale of juice should absolutely be restricted from minors.
Though, the current regulations we have aren't exactly adequate, and absolutely need to be reformed. As an adult, I shouldn't have as much issue as I do just trying to order consumables for my device.
The math really doesn't check out on them, for the price of just two of these you can buy a bottle of vape juice, and a replaceable pod based vape from a company like OXVA. Once you've bought three that covers the cost of more pods and more juice and you're set for way longer. Still kinda bad since the pods are technically disposable but they last longer, they're far smaller in size, and they don't have a lithium ion battery. I see people buy these things for convenience, and I admit I did once when I had lost my vape and was waiting for the replacement to come in. But I can't imagine throwing an entire device away every month or so.