Ministers are facing calls to crack down on vapes causing hundreds of dangerous fires in bin lorries and waste centres. Vape-related fires are growing in number and risking lives, one of the UK's leading waste and recycling companies has warned.
Over 500 suspected vape fires since ban
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK say they have tackled more than 500 suspected vape-related fires since the ban on single disposable vapes came into force in June last year. The lithium-batteries inside the e-cigarettes can even ignite while bin lorries are on the road, forcing workers to tip piles of waste onto the street.
SUEZ has now written to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), demanding they kick-start a national campaign on vape disposal and introduce a deposit return scheme for the items.
Risk to human life and facilities
Dr. Adam Read, Chief Sustainability Officer at SUEZ, told Metro: 'Vapes pose a ludicrous level of risk to human life, to very expensive facilities and the communities that sit around them. We're putting out fires every day at a site somewhere in the UK, and we've got more vehicles going up now than ever before. The fire risk associated with vapes is only getting worse, not better.'
An estimated six million vapes and pods are being discarded every week across the UK. They are a fire risk when not disposed of correctly because they contain lithium-ion batteries, which can ignite and burn fiercely if they are crushed or damaged. Dr Read says this can happen due to the use of compaction units and shredders in the waste management process, which can cause the resulting fires to ignite within seconds and 'burn out of control.'
Nearly 80% of SUEZ fires are vape-related
SUEZ – which runs more than 350 sites across the UK – say they have faced almost 550 suspected vape-related fires in the last year, which accounts for 80% of all their reported fires. In the first six months of this year alone, SUEZ had to put out 144 fires caused by vapes and batteries – a rise of 6% compared to the same period in 2025.
Footage supplied to Metro shows one fire in September last year, when a lorry carrying recycling waste caught fire in Greater Manchester. The blaze triggered a huge Fire and Rescue Service response and took five hours to extinguish. Another fire on a Doncaster refuse vehicle in April 2025 forced workers to tip 10 tonnes of waste onto the highway, which took four hours to clean up. Fire crews later identified seven lithium-ion batteries within the waste.
Lorry fires on public roads 'a scary thought'
Dr Read said about vape-related lorry fires: 'The risk is that the vehicle is on a public road. That is a scary thought. You just hope the lorry is not on fire in a long queue of traffic, on a very busy thoroughfare during school rush hour.'
Vapes can cause enormous fires at waste processing centres. A large blaze involving about 450 tonnes of cardboard at a recycling facility in Widnes last month, which was declared a major incident, is thought to have been caused by a disposable vape battery.
Ban impact and ongoing challenges
The government banned shops and online retailers from selling single-use vapes last year in an attempt to crack down on a 'throwaway culture'. While the number of vapes being thrown away is thought to have dropped by 23% in 2025, it still sits at an enormous 6.3 million per week. Non-disposable vapes are also a greater fire risk if not disposed of correctly because they have a higher battery capacity.
Dr Read added: 'We are still seeing an incredibly large number of vapes that aren't disposable in the disposal system, and so the ban has not really delivered what it was expected to.'
SUEZ has written to the government warning vape-related fires are a risk to life and cost taxpayers more than £1 billion every year. In the letter, seen by Metro, SUEZ say 'further action is needed… to improve safety for everybody working within the industry.'
Calls for national campaign and deposit scheme
Dr Read says he wants to see a national educational campaign – similar to stop smoking campaigns – to improve the public understanding of the risks of incorrect vape disposal. SUEZ also wants the government to introduce a dedicated deposit return scheme for vapes. This would see an additional charge placed on a vape, which will then be refunded when users dispose of the e-cigarettes at a dedicated recycling point. The government already plans to roll out a deposit return scheme for single-use drink containers from October 2027.
SUEZ also want ministers to intensify a crackdown on retailers who market and supply illegal vape products which are undercutting the ban. Metro understands that the government is considering potential interventions to further improve the collection of waste batteries and products which contain them, such as vapes. Ministers are weighing up whether to gather more evidence on introducing a dedicated vape deposit return scheme.
Fire service backs interventions
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue backed efforts to cut down on dangerous vape-related fires. Chris Tyler, group manager at the brigade's community safety team, said: 'Lithium-ion batteries, such as those found in vapes, are becoming one of the leading causes of fires in South Yorkshire. Batteries discarded in general waste disrupt local services but, more importantly, they put lives at risk. One moment of carelessness can have a big impact. We welcome any interventions that would help raise further awareness about this issue and reduce incident numbers in South Yorkshire and the UK more widely.'
Government response
A Defra spokesperson said: 'We have taken decisive action to tackle the harm caused by disposable vapes by banning single-use products, making it mandatory for retailers to take back used vapes for disposal free of charge and providing extra funding to local authorities to help them enforce the rules. One year from the introduction of the ban, the results are encouraging. Fewer young people are using disposable vapes and we are turning the tide on a throwaway culture that damages our environment – data from industry suggests that the number of vapes and pods that were littered or thrown away has dropped by almost 25%. Despite this progress we share industry concerns about the risk of waste fires and are exploring what more can be done to make it as easy as possible for people to do the right thing.'
