How Switzerland recycles e-cigarettes
Every e-cigarette contains valuable raw materials that need to be recycled. In Switzerland, SENS eRecycling takes care of this. Together with its partners, it operates a take-back system for waste electrical and electronic equipment, including e-cigarettes, and ensures that these are properly disposed of at specialised recycling facilities.
Every e-cigarette contains a lithium-ion battery that accounts for about 40% of the total weight of an e-cigarette. The advantage of this technology is that it has a high energy density, can store a lot of energy and quickly release it, which is why it is also used in smartphone, laptop and electric-car batteries. Lithium batteries can easily catch fire, and therefore need to be disposed of very carefully in order to prevent fires from starting and toxic gases from being released. The heavy metals contained in batteries are also highly toxic and can harm the environment.
An average of two tonnes of e-cigarettes per month
Until recently, e-cigarettes were processed in specialised recycling facilities in order to prevent short circuits or fires as far as possible. However, the risk of toxic gases endangering humans and nature during processing or fires being caused by the ignition of damaged batteries remained high. Since BATREC commissioned its state-of-the-art lithium-ion recycling plant in 2024, the mechanical processing of e-cigarettes in Switzerland has taken another step forward. Not only is the plant considered to be extremely safe, it is also able to handle the huge quantities of lithium-ion batteries collected throughout Switzerland as part of the INOBAT system – it can process up to 2,000 tonnes of batteries per year. The amount of batteries processed today already includes one to two tonnes of e-cigarettes per month.
State-of-the-art e-cigarette recycling
The e-cigarettes delivered to BATREC are first separated from the remaining batteries, discharged and shredded, before the various components of the battery are mechanically separated. The most valuable mixture is the so-called “black mass”. This consists of metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium and graphite, which are key to the energy transition. Other raw materials contained in the batteries include iron, plastics, aluminium and copper, which are fed back into the raw materials cycle with a purity level of 98%. While all processing of lithium batteries is carried out in Switzerland, the black mass and the extracted iron, aluminium and copper are reprocessed at specialised plants in Europe, South Korea and North America.
10 million tonnes of lithium end up in waste in the UK every year
Most disposable e-cigarettes contain a rechargeable battery. But because, unlike reusable e-cigarettes, they do not have a charging port, they must be disposed of as soon as the battery is empty. The British Sky News and the Daily Telegraph, together with "The Bureau" for investigative journalism, published figures for the UK in an article on the topic of e-cigarettes: there, two disposable e-cigarettes end up in the rubbish every second. That's about 10 million tonnes of lithium in a year. Enough to produce about 1200 batteries for electric cars. Click here for the article.
Is it even worth recycling e-cigarettes?
Yes, even if the recycling of e-cigarettes is a time-consuming process, it’s definitely worth it. This is because the more valuable secondary raw materials we recover and feed back into the production cycle, the fewer primary raw materials have to be mined in Africa, Asia or Australia.
The recycling of e-cigarettes not only strengthens the circular economy, but also ensures that no toxic substances are released into the environment, such as cobalt and nickel compounds or the nicotine contained in e-liquids.
In conclusion, with every e-cigarette collected, recycling loops can be closed and hazardous substances can be removed. Thank you for helping to dispose of vapes properly too!