Vapes

Keep vapes, batteries and electricals out of your bin and make sure they are recycled.

Binning vapes, batteries and electronics causes fires

Last year, thousands of preventable fires were caused by binned vapes, batteries and electricals. These fires not only endangered waste workers but can damage collection vehicles and waste treatment facilities, leading to delays in bins being emptied and increased costs to Councils.

How to dispose of vapes, batteries, and electricals

Vapes can be disposed of through take-back schemes with the retailer.

Batteries can be recycled at retailers who sell batteries such as supermarkets, DIY stores and toy shops.

You can also take them to your local household waste recycling centre.

Recycling at kerbside will depend on where you live. Please see below information for your Council:

Barnsley

Vapes, batteries and electricals are not collected through kerbside recycling. Please take them back to retailers or to recycling centres.

Recycling batteries and vapes - Barnsley Council

Doncaster

Vapes and batteries can be collected for recycling at the kerbside. Present them in a tied/sealed clear bag on top of your blue bin lid and put them out on the days your recycling is collected.

Small electrical appliances which are no larger than your green box, can be collected at the kerbside. Put them in a carrier bag next to your blue bin for kerbside collection.

Recycling batteries and vapes - Doncaster Council

Rotherham

Vapes, batteries and electricals are not collected through kerbside recycling. Please take them back to retailers or to recycling centres.

A to Z of Waste – Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Why are binned vapes so dangerous?

Any batteries hiding in bins can be crushed, punctured, shredded, soaked in liquid and squashed during collection. This can cause batteries to get hot and ignite the surrounding waste – even if the battery is completely dead!

Vapes contain internal batteries, which should be rechargeable under recent legislation. Many modern devices such as phones, tablets, toys, electric scooters and laptops also contain these types of batteries. Although they are fine for everyday use, these batteries are very powerful and contain a lot of energy. Once damaged in the waste collection process, they can explode and ignite.