General

E-cigarettes can be handed at all collection points for small electrical appliances and in some cases also at tobaccoists in special collection boxes.
E-cigarettes or vapes are electronic devices that vaporize liquids containing nicotine (or other substances), which are then inhaled (the term “vape” derives from the word “evaporate”). There are reusable (refillable) and disposable (non-refillable) e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are categorized as small electrical appliances. They must be collected separately as they always contain a single-use battery or rechargeable battery, usually one based on Li-ion technology. The Li-ion battery makes up around 40% of the mass of the e-cigarette. E-cigarettes must never be disposed of in residual waste or other waste streams (except for the separate collection of small electrical appliances or e-cigarettes) since there is a direct and high risk of fire if the Li-ion batteries are handled improperly.
In addition, the liquids contained in e-cigarettes in particular must be classified as hazardous waste because they may contain nicotine, benzoic acid, piperonal and benzyl alcohol.
E-cigarettes can be handed at all collection points for small electrical appliances and in some cases also at tobaccoists in special collection boxes.
Recovery of raw materials
E-cigarettes usually consist of a single-use or rechargeable Li-ion battery, plastics (often as a casing), circuit boards, ferrous and non-ferrous metals (in the vaporizer, the electrical components and sometimes also as a casing) as well as residues of the liquids, most of which contain nicotine and which are classified as hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly. The recycling processes for recovering the individual fractions are described under the respective points.
After the removal of harmful substances, the e-cigarettes are currently mainly processed manually and broken down into their individual parts. With a higher volume of e-cigarettes, partially automated processes for disassembling the devices can be implemented.

Disassembled e-cigarette
The following table and graph show guide values for the proportions of output fractions from the processing of e-cigarettes, taking battery recycling into account. As there are many different types of e-cigarettes on the market and the recycling processes are currently being developed, the guide values shown here should be viewed as subject to a wide range of fluctuation.
Portions | Proportion [%] |
---|---|
Ferrous metals | 12,4 |
Non-ferrous metals | 21,0 |
Plastic materials | 41,7 |
Remainder | 25,0 |
Total | 100,0 |
Materials recovered from e-cigarettes/vapes (2022 data)

Breakdown of e-cigarettes by percentage of total mass (2022)