Vaping has made a massive impact on society, providing a way for smokers to finally stop consuming tobacco products. People report all kinds of clear advantages to making the switch from cigarettes to vaping products, like better skin, improved respiratory well-being, and even savings in terms of money.
Many will tell you point-blank that vaping is better than smoking in just about every way possible. But, there’s one aspect that you may have not considered, which is the environment. Is vaping an environmentally friendly hobby, and how does it compare to smoking in this regard? Let’s examine the relationship between vaping and the environment.
How Does Vaping Impact the Environment?
If you’re a person who likes to vape, and at the same time, you try to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle, the good news is that at the end of the day, vaping isn’t as bad for the environment as you may have feared. The worst offender when it comes to the vaping industry, as far as the environment is concerned, is the disposal of batteries. Vape batteries, like all batteries, contain harmful chemicals that can damage soil and water, which is why they need to be disposed of properly. Proper disposal of vape batteries requires finding a battery drop-off center in your area, as you cannot simply put batteries in the garbage or recycling.
Nowadays, a lot of people use disposable vapes. These are all-in-one vaping systems that contain an integrated battery and a pre-filled e-liquid cartridge, and once the e-liquid runs out and the battery dies, the entire device is disposed of, and replaced with a new one. This is a contrast to the more traditional vaping systems that have a rechargeable battery and a refillable tank or cartridge, which can be used for a year or longer. With disposables, many more vape batteries are being disposed of by the user, as disposable vaping systems typically last for a few days up to a week.
What this means is that vapers are all the more responsible for disposing of these high amounts of vape batteries appropriately. The best thing to do is accumulate your disposable vapes, and then drop them all off at a battery drop-off center periodically.
Naturally, you also want to dispose of your other vaping supplies responsibly, like e-liquid bottles (glass or plastic), coils, and so on. Thankfully, most vaping hardware and accessories are recyclable.
Which is Worse for the Environment: Vaping or Smoking?
Fortunately for environmentally conscious vape enthusiasts, vaping is overall better for the environment than smoking. That’s because cigarette butts, which are disposed of after the person is done smoking a cigarette, are filled with toxic chemicals that don’t just contaminate soil and water supplies but pollute oceans in a way that can greatly harm marine life. It’s estimated that there are 4.5 trillion cigarette butts in our oceans right now, and while there haven’t been any studies done yet about the amount of vaping products found in oceans, we do know that it doesn’t come close. And, because vaping products aren’t toxic, the overall impact on ocean life is not the same.
Naturally, cigarette smoke also pollutes the air more than the vapor that comes from a vaping device. Again, this is because cigarette smoke contains a high concentration of toxins that affect the air we breathe, and smoke lingers longer than vapor in the air.
How Long Does Vapor Stay in the Air?
If you’re vaping indoors, then you may be wondering how long that vapor is actually lingering in the air around you. As it turns out, vapor breaks down within just seconds, while cigarette smoke can last for 30 minutes, affecting the air in your immediate area.
Does Your Room Smell When You Vape?
The ingredients used to make e-liquids include flavoring ingredients, and naturally, flavoring ingredients also have their own aroma profiles that affect the smell of the clouds you exhale. But, what kind of effect does this have on the smell of your room? That vape smell is likely to dissipate quickly, rather than lingering, since again, vapor breaks down within seconds. The chances of the smell lasting for a longer time, or being particularly strong, really depend on a lot of things.
The strength and longevity of the smell of vape smoke are going to be dependent on the flavoring ingredients themselves, as, of course, some ingredients naturally produce a stronger aroma than others. The concentration of flavoring ingredients in the formula will also matter. Then there’s the configuration of the hardware – basically, things like the battery power, wattage, and coil resistance level, all of which affect how much vapor is actually produced when you take a puff, and determine, therefore, how much vapor fills the room during one vaping setting. On top of that, the size of the room and whether or not the air is being filtrated in some way (open windows, air conditioning, etc.) matter.
Does Vaping Indoors Affect Air Quality?
As of now, there’s no evidence that vaping has a negative impact on air quality. Again, because vapor breaks down within seconds, it doesn’t seem to have any longer-term effect on air quality whatsoever. The vapor that is produced from vaping has not been detected in an indoor space after a few seconds have passed, which indicates that it is not affecting air quality in any way.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, there are a number of reasons to believe that vaping has no major negative impact on the environment, assuming that you dispose of your batteries, hardware, bottles, and so on in the proper manner. Especially when compared to smoking, vaping is a more environmentally friendly hobby that does not cause toxins to infiltrate the air, soil, and water supplies around the world. So, the next time you go to a vape shop, or visit a vape shop online in order to stock up on your favorite vaping products, just know that in all likelihood, you’re making a positive impact on the environment by choosing this method of nicotine delivery over smoking.