BRITISH vapers throw away enough unused batteries every year to power thousands of Tesla cars, according to scientists.
Disposable vapes face being banned in the UK next year because they appeal to children and create mountains of rubbish.
A study by Oxford University and University College London has found Brits bin 1.3million of the e-cigarettes every week – nearly 68m per year.
In the process they trash tonnes of lithium-ion batteries that could be recharged and reused hundreds of times, the researchers said.
Oxford scientist Professor Paul Shearing estimates the amount of electricity wasted in landfill could power 1,900 Tesla Model S cars or around 8.5million smartphones.
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He said: “These are pretty good batteries and they are just being discarded.
“They’re being chucked on the side of the road.
“As a bare minimum, the public needs to be aware of the need to properly dispose of them and manufacturers should be moving towards rechargeable devices as the default.”
Study author and PhD student at UCL, Hamish Reid, called it a “huge waste of limited resources”.
Disposable vapes have rocketed in popularity in recent years driven by the trendy colourful and fruity-flavoured Elfbar and Lost Mary brands.
Experts and ministers are so worried about their popularity with teenagers that they could be banned entirely when new rules come in in 2024.
Their batteries are made of lithium which is in astronomical demand for electronics all over the globe.
Marcus Saxton, of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, said: “We are running campaigns to educate and inform vapers on how they can dispose of used products responsibly.
“Collection points are on every high street, in supermarkets and convenience stores with thousands of bins across the country.”
We Vape founder Mark Oates added: “Vaping devices save lives but there need to be better designs that allow them to be easily recycled.”
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