Correspondence
From smoking to
vaping: a new
environmental threat?
E-cigarettes are generally considered
to be less dangerous for human
health than combustible cigarettes,
and are a promising harm reduction
tool for smokers.1 However, despite
possible health benefits compared with
tobacco smoking, vaping is a potential
environmental threat. Recently,
dry powder inhalers—widespread
medical devices routinely used to treat
pulmonary diseases—were shown to
have a concerning carbon footprint.2
Given their similarities to inhalers, the
impact of e-cigarettes on planetary
health can also no longer be ignored.
Historically, tobacco waste was one
of the most abundant forms of plastic
pollution in the world, with trillions
of individual cigarette butts polluting
the global environment every year.3
Cigarette butts and their filters are
made of a common man-made plastic,
and when thrown into soil and water,
release harmful chemicals before
turning into microplastic pollution.
Discarded cigarette butts present a
serious threat to human health and
wildlife, and are an example of how the
tobacco industry has had a substantial
impact on the environment for
decades.
Vaping, an alternative to smoking,
has substantially risen in popularity
over the past 15 years. With the vape
market mainly owned by the tobacco
industry, it is legitimate to question
whether vaping is more eco-friendly
than smoking, or whether the tobacco
industry has actually gone from bad to
worse. To fix the problem of cigarette
butt waste, several countries are
introducing measures to make tobacco
companies responsible for reducing
and managing this waste through
a mandatory product stewardship
scheme.4 Nonetheless, a new threat
is now facing our planet: vape waste,
including disposable devices, e-liquid
containers, packaging, and batteries,
ww.thelancet.com/respiratory Published online May 23, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00187-4 1
comprising not one but three forms of
waste.
The first type of waste that vaping
products contain is plastic waste.
Many popular e-cigarettes are pod-
based devices with single-use plastic
cartridges. Just like coffee capsules
were over the past decade, the vape
industry could soon be the next
environmental crisis in terms of plastic
pollution. The comparison between
vape pods and coffee capsules fits well,
since e-cigarettes are intentionally
designed to be convenient and
single-use, and both are (largely) non-
biodegradable and poorly recyclable.
The second type of waste is
electronic waste. Similarly to cigarette
butts, disposable e-cigarettes are
thrown away carelessly, instead of
being disposed in special electronic
waste facilities like smartphones
are. Vape waste presents at least
two waste disposal issues, since
e-cigarettes contain both circuit
boards5 and lithium-ion batteries.6 As
e-cigarette batteries degrade, their
toxic compounds progressively leach
into the environment.7 Additionally,
batteries put in rubbish bins pose both
an explosion and fire risk in waste and
recycling facilities or trucks.8
The third type of waste is hazardous
chemical waste. Pods and e-liquid
containers cannot be recycled with
other plastic waste because they have
contained nicotine, a substance listed
by the US Environmental Protection
Agency as an acute hazardous waste.9
Therefore, nicotine-contaminated
single-use cartridges and e-liquid
waste should not be thrown in the
regular waste unit or poured down the
sink.
E-cigarettes remain controversial
because their long-term health impact
is unknown and because they are a
possible gateway to cigarette smoking.
But one thing is clear: they are a rising
environmental threat. Thus, regulatory
agencies should not only focus on the
health effects of vaping products, but
also consider their environmental
impact. Indeed, this environmental
issue could rapidly worsen due to
the rising popularity of disposable
e-cigarettes.10 Vaping trends have seen Lancet Respir Med 2022
many changes over the years—eg, Published Online
since early 2021, disposable vaping May 23, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/
products seem to have increased in S2213-2600(22)00187-4
popularity worldwide. Generating even
more waste than reusable e-cigarettes,
disposable e-cigarettes are designed
to be used only once. Targeting mainly
young people, these new devices are a
worrying health concern, but are also
highly concerning on an ecological
level.
Fortunately, vape waste is a
preventable environmental disaster,
but for this disaster to be averted,
disposable e-cigarettes must be better
regulated. In 2020, the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) banned
flavours other than tobacco and
menthol for pod or cartridge-based
e-cigarettes. Unfortunately, the FDA’s
policy does not include disposable
e-cigarettes. For the environmental
consequences alone, this position
should be re-examined. Additionally,
because vape waste contains both
electronic and hazardous waste, there
is currently no legal way to recycle
disposable e-cigarettes in the USA.
Thus, regulatory agencies need to
coordinate their regulations to allow
for the safe recycling and waste
minimisation of these products in the
near future. Furthermore, e-cigarette
manufacturers have failed to provide
consumers with guidance on, or
Clément Mercier
 Correspondence
taken responsibility for, appropriate
disposal methods. This point should
be addressed quickly, since product
stewardship is a compelling way to
drive vape industry responsibility and
reduce pollution.
We declare no competing interests.
*Jérémie Pourchez, Clément Mercier,
Valérie Forest
pourchez@emse.fr
École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-
Etienne, Université de Lyon, Université Jean Monnet,
and Établissement Français du Sang, INSERM U1059,
Sainbiose, 42023 Saint-Etienne CEDEX 2, France
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