Lawmakers plan to tackle a widespread hazardous waste problem in Maine on Wednesday in a proposed bill that would require electronic-cigarette makers to establish a plan to get rid of used products at their own expense.
E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are difficult to dispose of in Maine, where they pose fire hazards at waste treatment sites and pollute public areas. Most stores that sell vapes will not take back used ones, which contain flammable lithium-ion batteries, unrecyclable plastic and microprocessor chips with toxic metals including lead and mercury, according to Maine’s environment department.
Liquid nicotine in the cigarettes can be absorbed through skin, causing poisoning, and it can harm fish. These toxic substances also can migrate if disposed of in a landfill, potentially contaminating groundwater and soil.
Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, who previously served six years on the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee, said she was concerned about litter, public health and the environment when she proposed the bill.
“All this plastic going into landfills and being littered all over the place, and the lithium,” Gramlich said. “How do we address this from an environmental perspective to move in the right direction?”
The popular disposable vapes, which typically have nonrecyclable plastic shells, add to growing concerns about all types of lithium-ion batteries, which are pervasive in consumer goods ranging from cell phones to power tools. The battery cannot be easily removed from a disposable vape, so the device goes into the trash in its entirety. If punctured or overheated, it can ignite.
Five disposable vapes were thrown away every second by young people in the United States in 2022, which in a year amounts to enough lithium to power 6,000 Tesla cars, according to the nonprofit Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Young people are driving sales of the e-cigarettes that are piling up in the trash. Some 15.6 percent of Maine high school students smoked vapes in 2023, according to the biennial Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey. The survey included vapes with recreational drugs, but the majority were products containing nicotine.
“E-cigarettes not only hook kids on nicotine, they also pollute Maine’s waters and wildlife with toxic substances like lead and mercury,” said Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association. “The companies selling these highly addictive, polluting products should be responsible for their disposal.”
The proposed bill requires producers of vapes to submit a plan to manage used devices for approval by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection by Nov. 1, 2026.
In its annual product stewardship report to the Legislature’s energy committee released in February, the environmental department noted that vape pens containing nicotine could be included in the Maine packaging law passed in 2021. It requires producers to pay for product packaging materials. The fees reimburse participating municipalities for recycling and waste management costs.
The report highlighted the collection program in Boulder County, Colorado, as a successful approach. In 2023 that program brought in 7,706 vape pens weighing 790 pounds and 26 pounds of pods and e-liquid. Numbers for 2024 are expected to exceed those. Maine is studying other state’s programs as well to see which approach might work best here.
The proposed Maine bill would require producers to have collection systems for unwanted e-cigarettes that are convenient for people living in urban and rural areas. Within one year those collection systems would need to be set up in locations within 15 miles of 90 percent of residents in Maine.
Producers would have to pay for the collection, transportation, recycling or disposition of the devices, as well as administrative and enforcement costs for the state environmental department of up to $100,000 annually.
The bill could end up as an addendum to the packaging law, said Gramlich. She has heard some pushback from tobacco-industry advocates, but has had support from six bill co-sponsors. They are Sen. Denise Tepler, D-Topsham; Rep. Arthur Bell, D-Yarmouth; Rep. William Bridgeo, D-Augusta; Rep. Victoria Doudera, D-Camden; Rep. Laurie Osher, D-Orono; and Rep. Morgan Rielly, D-Westbrook.
Gramlich said she expects more details to be discussed about how the take-back programs might be implemented during Wednesday’s public hearing, after which the bill could be further refined and revised.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in the proposed legislation,” she said.
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. Reach her at lvaligra@bangordailynews.com. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.