A campaign to collect e-cigarette waste in Ireland

A new e-cigarette collection program has been launched in County Monaghan, Ireland, by the European Recycling Platform (ERP Ireland), Monaghan County Council, and the Monaghan County Winegrowers Federation (VFI). Presented as a national first, this pilot project aims to address the increasing amount of vaping-related waste in the hospitality sector.[1].

An approach extended to the entire hospitality sector

Collection boxes have been installed in designated areas to collect used e-cigarettes, which are frequently discarded in smoking areas or in regular trash bins. Staff at these establishments then collect them and direct them to appropriate recycling channels. The program is not limited to pubs; it also includes hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs that are members of the VFI trade association.

While e-cigarette retailers are legally obligated to take back used e-cigarettes free of charge, provided they are of the same type, and although the hospitality sector generally does not have dedicated outlets for these products, e-cigarettes are often discarded in establishments within this sector. This initiative therefore also aims to prevent used e-cigarettes from ending up in general waste streams.[2].

An environmental and safety issue

According to estimates cited by the project partners, up to 30 million e-cigarettes end up in Ireland's waste stream each year. Because these products contain lithium-ion batteries, disposing of them with household waste can cause fires in garbage trucks or waste treatment facilities, especially when the devices are crushed, compacted, or exposed to heat during processing.

Monaghan County Council's chief executive, Robert Burns, said the approach highlighted the benefits of cross-sector collaboration, and council chairman Aiden Campbell asserted that it offered the opportunity not only to tackle a major current environmental challenge, but also to help local businesses adopt "« more sustainable practices »"Throughout the county. The partners believe this secure collection system could be a replicable model in other Irish counties.".

An initiative that remains very imperfect and does not address the root of the problem.

However, this type of system, based primarily on voluntary collection in establishments, remains open to criticism. It tends to individualize waste management responsibility, placing it primarily on consumers and workers in the hospitality sector, while failing to challenge the marketing of vaping products, even though manufacturers are placing complex, toxic, and highly polluting products on the market. The National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) points out that e-cigarettes combine lithium-ion batteries, electronic components, plastics, and nicotine residues, making their recycling technically difficult, costly, and potentially dangerous, particularly due to the risk of fire during waste transport and processing.

The association believes that these local initiatives can only provide a partial solution. Currently, e-cigarettes containing batteries are subject, throughout the European Union, solely to the general rules concerning waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and batteries. The CNCT argues that, as with cigarette butts, only the implementation of an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme specifically for e-cigarettes, limiting the role of manufacturers to financing the collection and processing of waste managed by a completely independent eco-organization, would allow for stricter application of the "polluter pays" principle, reduce the externalization of environmental costs onto local actors, and better regulate the entire life cycle of these products.

The CNCT also emphasizes that, in accordance with the European waste hierarchy, prevention and reduction at source must take precedence over collection and recycling. Collection systems can improve the management of existing waste, but they must not lead to these products being presented as sustainably compatible with waste reduction objectives. The association also warns against the risk that recycling programs supported by economic actors will be used as environmental communication tools, even as the marketing of products that generate significant amounts of waste continues. For the CNCT, a coherent policy should combine producers' financial responsibility, binding eco-design, and a reduction in disposable products (or products presented as non-disposable but made complex to refill by manufacturers). strengthening of measures limiting their attractiveness and availability, particularly among young people.

©Generation Without Tobacco

AD

[1]Program on vape waste launches in Monaghan, Northern Sound, published on July 31, 2026, accessed on August 3, 2026

[2]Liam Cosgrove, Monaghan becomes first county in the country to roll out vape waste crackdown offensive, Irish Independent, published on August 3, 2026, accessed the same day

National Committee Against Smoking |