Roadside litter is an eyesore and a growing problem.
A post in the “r/melbourne” subreddit depicted what the author coined “the vape wall.”
The photo shows a walkway on the side of the road cluttered with dozens of discarded disposable vapes.
Photo Credit: Reddit
The original poster wrote that they took a picture last year in the same spot and that the number of discarded vapes has increased since then.
While vaping is more modern than traditional cigarette use, health professionals are still concerned about its negative health effects.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions that the vapor often contains nicotine, a highly addictive substance. A 2023 PubMed article noted that there isn’t enough data to make conclusive claims about long-term cancer risk yet, but the chemicals present in the vapor do suggest there is a cancer risk associated with vaping.
In response to health risks, many countries have begun to ban vaping.
Disposable vapes also come with a slew of environmental concerns.
According to the Institute for Environmental Research and Education, disposable vape cartridges contain materials like heavy metals and plastics that are hazardous to the earth.
When vape waste begins to break down, these materials can leach into the soil, harming wildlife and contaminating soil and water supplies. Animals may mistake small trash for food, ingesting the harmful elements of the vape, which can lead to illness or death.
The plastic components of vapes can take centuries to fully break down.
Vapes are difficult to recycle, so most simply throw them away. According to Truth Initiative data from 2022, only 8% of vape users sent finished vapes to e-waste recycling facilities.
The vapes also utilize valuable resources like lithium. The amount of lithium discarded with vapes in the United Kingdom each year is enough to power 5,000 electric vehicle batteries, according to Eco Experts.
While the comment section of the Reddit post included many jokes at the vapers’ expense, two other common threads emerged. One was that people are trying to reuse the batteries from the discarded vapes.
The other was disgust at the amount of waste — and at vapes in general. “I hate the smell of vapes on peoples breath,” one commenter wrote. “It’s so gross.”
“People are gross. People are ignorant,” said another. “The world is their trashcan.”
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