Rise of single-use vapes sending tonnes of lithium to landfills in the UK and elsewhere. So what!

Entrepreneurs will make a business out of recycling, if it is profitable!

By the way, lithium is not a rare element! World reserves, as of 2020, are estimated at over 21 million tonnes.

However, the authors are calling, as usual, for more government regulation and intervention! This article is not really about lithium, but probably more about unaccepted sinful behavior of humans (i.e. smoking & wastefulness).

Dedicated to all electric car owners:

"... Disposable vapes also pose a potential serious risk when not recycled, as the lithium-ion batteries can start fires when crushed in a waste truck or at a waste-processing plant. ..."

"... A joint investigation by the Bureau, Sky News and the Daily Telegraph suggests that two disposable vapes are being thrown away every second in the UK. Over a year, this is enough lithium to make roughly 1200 electric car batteries. ...
While each vape contains just 0.15g of lithium, the scale of the waste means about 10 tonnes of the metal is ending up in landfills [over what time period?]. ..."

Rise of single-use vapes sending tonnes of lithium to landfill — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB)

Museum To Stop Selling Bottled Water

Fools Or Clever Business

Today (9/20/2013), I received by e-mail the “The Desert Dispatch” from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

As a reason for this measure the museum says “As part of continuing conservation efforts, the Desert Museum will no longer sell bottled water on grounds beginning October 1. Did you know that most empty water bottles end up in landfills, but others end up in the ocean, waterways and landscapes where pieces of plastic can make it into foodwebs and harm wildlife? Or that producing bottled water releases about 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide? The Museum will sell reusable water bottles that can be filled at any Museum water fountain.” (emphasis added).

I am afraid this institution is not the only one who try to appeal the emotions of dogooders.

By the way, I happen to refill half liter bottles whenever possible. I have previously blogged here about that landfills are a man’s treasure. In his/her naiveté the museum director cannot or does not want to understand that landfills might become tomorrow’s resources for coming generations.

Green Fad Or Useful Idiots

The museum, which I quite like and recommend to visit, is unwittingly or not regurgitating popular green propaganda. Thus, it appears to be a statement of green fadish conformity or that of a useful idiot.