E-cigarettes : Vapes spark fire crisis in waste facilities

The small lithium battery inside a discarded vape pen might not look dangerous, but for waste management facilities across the US and Europe, these devices have become an increasingly urgent fire hazard. As single-use e-cigarettes flood the market—and subsequently, our waste streams—regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are scrambling to address a problem that's quite literally explosive.

In the United States, the issue has reached a critical point. Material recovery facilities report fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in vapes and other electronics with alarming regularity. When these batteries are punctured or crushed during sorting and processing, they can ignite through a process called "thermal runaway"—threatening worker safety and causing costly operational disruptions.

The batteries are particularly problematic because they're small, high energy density, and difficult to identify amongst other recyclables. Even when they appear depleted, they still hold enough charge to cause a thermal event. The frequent jostling, crushing, and shredding in waste and recycling streams can cause battery smoking or combustion in collection trucks, at MRFs, in scrapyards, or at transfer stations.

Several US states have now begun taking legislative action. California's State Assembly recently passed AB 762, which proposes banning disposable vape pens entirely. The bill would prohibit the import or manufacture of such devices from 1st January 2027, followed by a ban on sale or distribution from 1st January 2028. The legislation covers disposable vapes containing nicotine but not those containing cannabis. A similar bill introduced last year failed to gain traction, but this version has the backing of a coalition including Californians Against Waste, the California Product Stewardship Council, California Public Interest Research Group, and Rethink Waste—all aligned on the notion that such devices create unacceptable risks to the state's waste and recycling systems.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's legislature has reintroduced extended producer responsibility legislation for e-cigarettes. Additionally, pilot programmes from the Product Stewardship Institute in New York and Missouri are testing approaches to more safely manage this complicated waste stream.

Industry advocates argue that these legislative efforts are necessary because waste and recycling operators have effectively become victims—left to deal with fire hazards dumped at their doorstep with few resources or safe disposal options available. At present, there are minimal outlets for users to safely dispose of vape devices, particularly the increasingly popular single-use models.

Across the Atlantic, European regulators are taking a different but equally decisive approach. Rather than targeting vapes specifically, the EU is implementing a regulation that will ban all products with non-replaceable built-in batteries by February 2027. This environmental measure will effectively eliminate most current disposable vape designs from the market, as well as some integrated battery mods.

The regulation stems from concerns raised by major waste industry associations. In March 2024, seven organisations—including the European Association for Waste Disposal and Resource Utilisation (FEAD) and the European Waste Energy Plant Association (CEWEP)—jointly called for action on disposable e-cigarettes, citing the environmental impact of lithium batteries and fires caused by improper disposal.

Individual EU member states haven't waited for the bloc-wide regulation. Belgium enacted a ban on disposable vape sales effective January 2025, becoming the first EU country to do so after receiving approval from the European Commission. France implemented its ban in February 2025. The UK, whilst no longer in the EU, banned disposable vapes in June 2025 as part of a broader strategy that includes restrictions on flavours, display regulations, and fines for illegal sales to minors.

The UK's experience following its ban proved instructive about the challenges ahead. Just one month after the ban took effect, vapes were blamed for a pair of waste facility fires, including one requiring 60 firefighters to extinguish. Between June and September 2025, waste management company Biffa discovered more than 840,000 discarded vapes across just four of its major sites—highlighting the scale of the problem even after sales were prohibited.

Figures from Material Focus show that more than 1,200 battery-related fires broke out in UK refuse vehicles and waste facilities during 2023/24, representing a 71% increase on the previous year. Lithium-ion batteries found in vapes, toys, laptops, and seasonal decorations are regularly discarded in residual waste and recycling bins. When damaged or crushed during collection or processing, these cells can enter thermal runaway, rapidly heating to extreme temperatures and igniting nearby materials.

For waste management operators, the vape problem illustrates a broader challenge: as consumer products become increasingly battery-powered, waste infrastructure struggles to keep pace. Mobile phones, power tools, medical devices, toys, and countless other items now contain lithium-ion batteries that pose similar risks when improperly disposed of.

Current safe disposal options for batteries, vapes, and small electrical waste—including in-store return points and household waste recycling centres—remain significantly underused, either through indifference, lack of awareness, or the inconvenience of accessing them. Some newer technologies are being deployed to help: Rumpke Waste & Recycling recently installed an X-ray system at its Cincinnati MRF that has identified as many as 110 hazards per day, dramatically decreasing the number of batteries moving further into the facility. However, such systems still require manual removal and represent only part of the solution. Whether through outright bans, EPR schemes, or comprehensive battery regulations, the message for waste operators is clear: whilst legislative action accelerates on both sides of the Atlantic, facilities must remain vigilant—because until these measures take full effect, they're left managing fire hazards they never created.