Are E Cigs Better For The Environment?
We all know that (from the evidence collated and pure common sense) that using ecigs is better for your health than smoking. However have you ever considered the health of the planet? If you are a keen vaper, you may have wondered if e cigs are better for the environment than traditional cigarettes. Here are a few reasons (or pieces of information) that makes us believe that vapes can be better for the environment than traditional cigarettes.
The Big Butt
Cigarette butts make up 38% of the litter worldwide, making it the most littered item in the world, according to Earth911.com. Obviously, this has a huge impact on the environment as countries struggle to cope with the costs of the cleanup. At the last count 5.5 trillion analogue cigarettes are produced globally every year and this number keeps on increasing. In addition, cigarette butts are not biodegradable.
Where The Cigarette Butts End Up
When a cigarette butt is improperly discarded, it can end up being washed or blown into drains and water. This can release toxic chemicals which can have devastating consequences on water creatures plus birds who mistake the cigarette butts for food.
Air Pollution
Smokers produce 84,878 tons of air pollution each year. Putting that into context: This is 50 percent of the fumes that cars produce in the USA. Not only are these pollutants, they are also poisonous compounds—ammonia, acetone, arsenic, formaldehyde, tar, and carbon monoxide.
In light of these facts, how can electric cigarettes offer to provide a solution?
Quite obviously, e-cigs do not leave any little in form of cig butts. As an added benefit, electric cigarettes allow the user to “reduce, reuse, recycle”, as one e-cig cartomizer is equal to about 40 analogue cigarettes, users can reduce the amount of waste produced. Most e-cigs are also completely recyclable.
Vapes do not release any toxic and poisonous fumes. E-cig vapour is made up of naturally occurring materials such as gas, water, air, and propylene glycol (PG). Water and nicotine are naturally occurring gases, and PG is an organic compound.
Are there any environmental negatives?
A common argument is that the production of e-cigs is more harmful than it’s worth. In other words, the air pollution emitted by the factories outweighs any potential good. Though if everyone smoked ecigs then quick there would be less tobacco factories, which are also responsible for air pollution when they make their product.
You may also want to read: The Beginners Guide to E Cigs
