As well as the health implications associated with smoking, where vapes are concerned, and particularly single use vapes, there is also a significant potential environmental impact. We spoke with North West Sustainability Lead Jamie Devine about how Elysium’s Victoria Gardens, and other North West services, are reducing that potential impact by recycling single use vapes.
“When we were setting up our sustainability activities across Victoria Gardens back in 2023, I noticed there was no solution for vapes. I don’t smoke or vape, and I don’t think I’d realised at that time that recycling single use vapes isn’t easily done.
“Across the UK, they are one of the most littered items – and we see that when we’re litter picking. All the options I found for disposing of them involved them being sent to landfill, exactly what I wanted to avoid. My aim was to get the lithium and plastics all recycled.
“Fortunately when I was fuelling my car I saw a bin which had vapes in it and asked – it was provided by the Green Wings Project. They’re a charity and they recycle single use vapes for free.
“It’s a really simple process too. They have provided a bin for each ward and one for reception. We return them when they’re full and they recycle all the elements.
“The impact can’t be overestimated given that across the North West within Elysium alone, we see probably around 400,000 plus vapes. And we don’t just use it for vapes. Batteries can go in too.
“While we do try to discourage smoking and vaping, people choose to do it, so we want to make sure we’re doing all we can to offset any potential environmental impact it might have. We have single use vape recycling set up in different services across the North West and it’s been such a success, we’ve been approached by other services further afield to set the scheme up too.”
Jamie has long been championing sustainability at Victoria Gardens and has also been getting other Elysium North West services involved to implement more eco-friendly practices. Find out more about the North West Sustainability Group here.