ROBERTSON Construction has been addressing the potential environmental risk of single-use vape disposal on its sites by participating in a recycling trial.
The contractor has been rolling out disposable vape recycling bins at sites across Tayside working with supply chain waste partner, Binn Group.
The firm said that with 1.3 million single-use vapes being thrown away every week, the items, which contain lithium batteries, pose a threat to the environment. To combat the threat of fire which can be caused by the incorrect disposal, the recycling bins mean that these items are now manually dismantled, segregated and cleaned before their components are recycled.
Elliot Robertson, CEO at Robertson Group, said, “We continue to work with all employees as part of our commitment to wellbeing with support to discourage smoking in a bid to improve health. Whilst this campaign is on-going, we have been working with all our sites and offices to raise awareness of the danger of the incorrect disposal of single use vapes at work and at home. At Robertson we are conscious of all the actions that we take to try and combat our impact on the environment for today and for the future.
“Robertson, along with many local authorities, support the Scottish Government review to seek a complete ban on disposable vapes due to impact they are having on public health and the environment. Until a ban is in place, we can ensure that they are disposed of correctly across our sites to reduce environmental damage and risk of fire.”
Binn Group supports the UK’s WEEE Regulations offering container delivery, collection and safe disposal service for vapes.
Jim Brown, commercial director at Binn Group, added, “We are delighted to be able to partner with Robertson Group on this initiative to ensure that disposable vapes are segregated at source and not littered or disposed of as general waste. Not only are single-use vapes bad for public health, they are also bad for the environment.
“From litter on our streets, to the risk of fires in waste facilities, there are issues which need to be addressed urgently and by working together with Robertson Group we are ensuring that these vapes are captured for recycling.
“The good news is that the single-use vapes we collect at Binn Group go through a process of being manually dismantled, with the plastic, metal and glass components all being separated for recycling. The lithium battery is also removed and is sent for recycling also. This ensures closed loop recycling of these components.
“It is estimated that around 2.7 million single-use vapes were discarded in Scotland in 2022. Almost two thirds of Scotland’s Councils back the move to ban single-use vapes. Until they are banned, we hope the roll out of this recycling service can raise the profile of the challenge the country is facing and encourage more people to seek out a sustainable recycling solution.”
