“Disposable e-cigarettes” may be a misnomer given that there is no easy way to get rid of them in Maine, where they create fire hazards at dumps and expose beaches and other public areas to hazardous chemicals.
Many people don’t even realize that the disposable e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are considered hazardous waste by federal and state officials, said Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association. Both the nicotine and the lithium-ion batteries that heat the product’s liquid into a vapor for inhaling are classified as hazardous waste, so they’re not meant to be thrown away in household trash or recycling. But with no options for disposal, that is causing problems at trash plants and in the environment throughout Maine.
“They pollute our environment with toxic chemicals and are a major cost to consumers and municipalities to figure out how to properly dispose of them,” Wellington said.
The popular disposable vapes, which typically have nonrecyclable plastic shells, add to growing concerns about all types of lithium-ion batteries, which are pervasive in consumer goods ranging from cell phones to power tools. The battery cannot be easily removed from a disposable vape, so the device goes into the trash in its entirety.
Young people are driving sales of the e-cigarettes that are piling up in the trash. The National Youth Tobacco Survey found that more than one in four current youth e-cigarette users smoke daily, while 38.4 percent smoked during at least 20 of the last 30 days. Despite being illegal to purchase for those under age 21, it is easy to find friends and other people to buy them, said Leah Day, owner of Lighthouse Bikes in South Portland.
Day’s son began vaping in high school and, five years later, is still struggling to quit. He is ashamed of his addiction and secretive about his use, stashing vapes around the house. Day does not see any in the household trash and suspects he disposes of them elsewhere.
“If you have something that you don’t want anybody to see, your tendency is to chuck it,” she said.
Five disposable vapes were thrown away every second by young people in the United States in 2022, which in a year amounts to enough lithium to power 6,000 Tesla cars, according to the nonprofit Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
“Bangor doesn’t really offer much for options for safe disposal,” said Greg Malloch, manager of the Empire Vape Shop in Brewer. “I assume most people just throw them in their trash.”
12 battery fires this year at one trash plant
Lithium-ion battery problems became a focus area for Portland-based waste management company ecomaine two years ago, when it started documenting the number of lithium-ion batteries that caused fires at its location, said Chris Bosch, health and safety manager at the company.
So far this year it has experienced 12 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.
Bosch said smaller batteries such as those in vapes are just as dangerous as the larger ones. A small vape is difficult for trash sorters to spot on a conveyor belt, and it may be mixed with other combustibles such as trash and catch fire if it is punctured. It could become an airborne projectile when a trash loader runs over it.
When punctured or overheated, they can go into a state known as “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction that happens when a battery generates more heat than it can dissipate. That reaction can cause a fire, explosion or toxic emissions of gasses including carbon monoxide and methane that get into the environment, he said.
“We are expecting those incidents to grow in the future,” Bosch said. “Lithium-ion batteries are just a part of everyday life, our cell phones, computers, tools, TVs, everything.”
To help prevent fires, the company invested $500,000 for a remote-operated fire suppression system that shoots out water if it senses a fire. Insurance is another cost. Rates tripled over the past year. It has two facilities in Portland, a single-sort recycling center and a waste-to-energy plant.
Bosch said lithium-ion batteries have become a significant issue in the waste business. The Oct. 1 fire that has burned for at least a week at Eagle Point Energy Center in Orrington was initially blamed by the trash plant’s owners on a lithium-ion battery. But the town’s fire chief said that was unlikely because the facility has not accepted new trash since September 2023 and the cause may never be known. Still, the facility had fires in 2022 that its plant manager said were caused by improperly disposed of lithium-ion batteries.
Trash from the Orrington facility is being trucked to Juniper Ridge Landfill after it is deemed cool enough, according to Town Manager Chris Backman. Juniper Ridge is owned by Casella Waste Systems, whose spokesperson Jeff Weld said lithium-ion batteries “pose a significant danger to our workers, our facilities and our communities if they are improperly disposed of.”
Other options haven’t worked well
Putting drop boxes similar to the needle waste containers in public areas for collection won’t work, ecomaine’s Bosch said. The lithium-ion batteries can ignite in extreme heat, he said.
Some vape manufacturers offer take-back programs, but they are not widespread, and often customers and shops don’t know about them. Malloch of Empire Vape Shop and the manager of another vape store in Bridgton said they have no take-back offers from manufacturers. Malloch said he will accept used vapes if customers bring them in and then send them back to the distributor, but “that doesn’t happen very often.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other websites encourage disposal of e-cigarettes at hazardous waste facilities. But the only two collection sites in Maine, the Environmental Depot in Lewiston and the Riverside Recycling Facility in Portland, told the Bangor Daily News that they do not accept c-cigarettes because they have no way to dispose of them. Both advised checking with city or town transfer stations to see if they accept them.
Bosch of ecomaine hopes e-cigarettes might be added to the Maine packaging law passed in 2021 that places responsibility for taking back certain packaging onto producers.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is evaluating the use of rechargeable batteries in products such as e-cigarettes and cannabis vaporizers beyond those currently covered by the packaging law, David Madore, deputy commissioner of the department, said. The department will make any recommendations in its annual product stewardship report to the Maine Legislature due Feb. 15, 2025.
The most common types of vapes on the market include disposable vapes, vape pens, pod vapes and box mods. Disposable vapes are ready to use. The other vapes are rechargeable and refillable, and some can be tailored to puff rate and size.
Generally, one e-cigarette equals at least 20 cigarettes, said Wellington of the Maine Public Health Association. Other health officials estimate it could equal up to 40 cigarettes, or two packs.
‘They are not safe for young people’
Young people tend to use e-cigarettes at a higher rate than adults, according to the nonprofit Truth Initiative, which works to end nicotine addiction. It found that 6.1 percent of adults in Maine used e-cigarettes in 2022. That compares with 15.6 percent of high school students in 2023, according to the biennial Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey. The Maine survey included vapes with recreational drugs, but the majority used products containing nicotine.
The state’s numbers for youth users are still high compared with national data showing 7.7 percent of youth, or 2.13 million people, used vapes in 2023, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. That survey found that close to 90 percent used flavored e-cigarettes, with fruit flavors leading in popularity.
Right: The components of an e-cigarette include nicotine, a lithium-ion battery — considered hazardous waste — and electronics, creating a challenge for people to dispose of them easily. Credit: Courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“The reason why e-cigarette usage in schools is so popular has a lot to do with the flavors,” said Mallory Siddiqui, tobacco prevention program coordinator at Healthy Communities of the Capital Area, a nonprofit public health organization based in Gardiner.
Communities including Bangor, Bar Harbor, Brunswick, Portland, South Portland and Rockland already prohibit sales of flavored e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Wellington said the high concentration of nicotine in an e-cigarette also is a reason why they are so addictive. People using them are getting such powerful bursts of nicotine because there’s no harshness in the throat like there is with smoking, he said.
“There’s still a lot we don’t know about the health impacts of e-cigarettes,” he said. “But we do know they are not safe for young people, causing anxiety, addiction and potentially making them more likely to be addicted to other dangerous substances in the future.”
Gardiner Area High School is trying to support addicted students by focusing on education and treatment rather than suspensions for violating a substance use policy. It has partnered with My Life My Quit, a free service to help teens quit vaping.
“We are hoping to destigmatize addiction and support students in making healthier choices,” said Elizabeth Brooker, a social worker at the high school.
Day has seen the pain the stigma of addiction has caused for her son, who sometimes stops vaping but resumes after several months. In high school he was a runner, gymnast and swimmer, but he soon found the vapes were taking a toll on his body. She said he is angry and ashamed about the effect smoking vapes has had on his life.
“Thinking about affecting the environment goes by the wayside,” she said. “He cares, but the addiction is bigger than being able to do anything about it.”
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. She may be reached at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.
