How Do You Dispose of a Vape?

The EPA says e-cigarettes contain nicotine and lithium batteries, making them hazardous waste, and that liquid nicotine in e-cigarettes can be easily absorbed by the skin, potentially causing nicotine poisoning with symptoms that include difficulty breathing, fainting or seizures. The FDA, pointing to the EPA guidance, says the most important steps are not to put e-cigarettes in your household trash or recycling and to take them to your household hazardous waste collection site.

The EPA says lithium batteries can catch fire, especially when damaged, and that when placed in household trash and recycling bins they often get damaged by trash compactors and can cause fires during transportation and at waste and recycling facilities. An EPA analysis found more than 240 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries at 64 facilities between 2013 and 2020, with batteries from small consumer devices, including cell phones, tablets, laptops, hoverboards and e-cigarettes, among the most common sources.

The EPA says many towns and counties have household hazardous waste collection programs, that these collections are typically free for residents, and that you can search online or contact your local solid waste agency to find one. For schools and small businesses, it says nicotine e-liquid is an acute hazardous waste with the federal hazardous waste code P075.