Disposable e-cigarettes: The dumbest trend in a long time – that’s how harmful disposable vapes are

Disposable e-cigarettes are currently the trend, especially among young people. Not least because prominent streamers on Twitch are promoting it. Everyone is talking about the “Elf Bar”, which primarily appeals to a younger target group with its cool colors and original flavors. But there are also many other manufacturers pushing into this booming market.

On closer inspection, however, such disposable e-cigarettes turn out to be extremely environmentally harmful products. The simple reason: The e-cigarettes, which are available for around 10 euros, usually contain lithium-ion batteries, which then end up with the e-cigarette in the normal household waste, where they really don’t belong.

The manufacturers of such disposable e-cigarettes draw attention to this, but not all consumers are likely to stick to it. According to a recent study from Great Britain, where the single-use e-cigarette trend started earlier, more than 50 percent of disposable e-cigarettes end up in the trash. Just the single-use e-cigarettes discarded in the UK in a year would be enough to produce 1,200 electric vehicle batteries.

Massive waste of batteries from disposable e-cigarettes

According to the manufacturer, for example, the “Elf Bar 600” has a 550 mAh battery. After about 600 puffs, an actually recyclable battery ends up in the garbage. For comparison: The Galaxy S22 has a 3,700 mAh battery. Throwing away 7 Eleven Bars simply throws away a battery capacity that would be sufficient for years of use of a Galaxy S22.

Not to mention wasting the precious rare earth elements needed to make the batteries. In Germany alone, a high six-digit number of such disposable e-cigarettes are sold every month and thus thrown away again after use.

Youtuber points out the problem and calls for a ban on disposable vapes

The high-reach YouTuber Alicia Jones published a video entitled “Why disposable vapes must be banned IMMEDIATELY” on Thursday, in which Jones addresses the problem. In the clip, Jones also points out that there are indications that the liquids in disposable e-cigarettes made in China could also contain rather harmful substances. Anyway, there have been reports of users complaining of a strange taste and coughing.

Alicia Jones comes to one conclusion in her video: taxes should be reduced for reusable e-vapes and disposable e-cigarettes should be completely banned in Europe.