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Shilton, Emily

University of British Columbia

The accelerated growth of vaping in Canada has created a new stream of hazardous and largely unregulated electronic waste. As products that straddle the line between consumer electronics and nicotine delivery systems, vapes occupy a policy gray zone. This regulatory gap poses significant challenges for their safe disposal, recycling, and material recovery. The goal of this thesis is to provide policy recommendations to reduce the environmental impact of vape products through conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) and consumer survey. A comparative LCA of devices was conducted by first performing a device take-apart and material characterization using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The LCA was developed in OpenLCA using the ecoinvent v3.10 database and ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) indicators. The results showed disposable products have consistently higher climate change impacts than refillable products, with the primary drivers being battery, electronics, and case manufacturing. The survey was administered to 500 adult vape users in the U.S. and Canada, and the results were analyzed using a logistic regression analysis. The responses showed an almost even purchasing split between disposable (57%) versus reusable systems (43%). Additionally, 63% of users reported throwing their devices in the trash as their primary disposal method. Pro-environmental values and norms were statistically significant predictors of both sustainable disposal and intervention support, though not of sustainable purchasing. Based on these findings, four policy interventions were evaluated: i) a ban on disposable vapes, ii) a requirement for all vapes to include removable batteries, iii) the development of recycling programs funded through Environmental Handling Fees (EHF), and iv) recycling incentivization via deposit-refund systems. The results of this study strongly recommend the implementation of a disposable vape ban in Canada, as it could annually reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 89.7 million kg CO₂-eq and prevent 2 million kg of lithium polymer batteries from entering Canadian waste streams. While battery removal mandates may further enhance safety and recyclability, they would require increased regulatory oversight. Recycling initiatives show high potential but warrant further research to assess cost-effectiveness and implementation feasibility.

Text

2025-04-28

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90842

Resources, Environment and Sustainability

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/