If you’re among the thousands of Washington residents who use e-cigarettes or vape devices, you likely have wondered what to do with your old ones. What you shouldn’t do is chuck them in the garbage or recycling bin. Clark County Public Health recently launched an educational campaign about how to properly dispose of vaping devices and cartridges.
“Vaping devices are considered electronic waste, or e-waste, and hazardous waste. E-waste poses a range of risks for human and environmental health and the lithium-ion batteries in the devices pose a significant fire risk,” Public Health spokeswoman Marissa Armstrong said Wednesday.
Public Health is encouraging residents to drop off their old devices at the household hazardous waste disposal sites at the county’s three local transfer stations in Vancouver and Washougal. During the spring, the county will host additional household hazardous waste disposal events in the outlying communities for residents to dispose of their devices.
“The batteries from these devices, when removed, can be dropped off at one of the household battery collection sites across the county. We are looking to add additional collection sites,” Armstrong said.
However, the additional sites will only accept batteries, not the entire device or other types of household hazardous waste.
Armstrong said the campaign is part of the county’s efforts to educate residents about disposing of household hazardous waste, which includes paint, pesticides, solvents and batteries.
“We may also do messaging and outreach on specific items that are gaining popularity or pose unique challenges for disposal. For example, we provide education around battery disposal because they can pose a significant fire risk when thrown in garbage or recycling carts,” Armstrong said.
The popularity of e-cigarettes, especially disposable devices, continues to grow. While sales data specific to Clark County is not available, sales across the United States grew from 15.6 million units for the month of February 2020 to 22.9 million units in December 2023. According to the state Department of Health, about 4.2 percent of Washington adults 18 and older — about 250,000 people — use a vape device.
“We would prefer to see them properly disposed of, which would be at an alternative site,” said Derek Ranta of Waste Connections. “The vaping pens have a battery in them that catches fire in the recycle loads and creates fires in our trucks and then our facilities.”
Ranta said problems associated with lithium batteries are typically worse during the warmer summer months, adding it’s not just vape devices that are a problem.
“We see it in all sorts of different products now,” he said.
Just recently, a lighted soccer ball containing a lithium battery caught fire at one of Waste Connections’ facilities, he said.
But lithium batteries aren’t the only issue when it comes to vape devices. They often contain liquid nicotine, which can be highly toxic. Nicotine can easily be absorbed through the skin, which can lead to nicotine poisoning. When not disposed of properly, nicotine can leach into the ground and groundwater while lithium batteries can emit toxic gases as they degrade.
“The nicotine can also harm fish and other aquatic organisms when the devices are improperly disposed and the nicotine reaches waterways,” Armstrong said.
The educational campaign isn’t solely aimed at residents. In addition to messaging on social media and news alerts on the county website, Public Health also worked with local stores.
“AmeriCorps members working with our department did outreach to local retail stores selling the devices. They educated retail locations about proper disposal and provided the businesses with informational handouts they could share with their customers,” Armstrong said.
