As the vaping industry continues to grow, it is becoming increasingly more important that we take steps to decrease our carbon footprint and to behave in an environmentally conscious manner.
As veterans of the vaping industry, we have made it a priority to ensure that environmental sustainability is a consideration in everything that we do, with the hope that we can set an example for the rest of the industry to follow.
How are we funding plastic recovery?
While the rise in popularity of vaping has helped thousands of people quit smoking and make the best decision for their health, it is an unfortunate fact that the more the industry grows, the more waste it is going to produce.
Our main priority has always been to help smokers make the switch to vaping, but that does not mean that it has to come at the cost of our environment.
In a bid to do our bit in preventing waste plastic from reaching our oceans, and to help ensure as much of it is recycled and reused as possible, we have collaborated with CleanHub.
We have committed to recovering 12,500 kg of plastic waste, and are already 12% towards our goal with 1,600 kg recovered so far!
Who are CleanHub?
CleanHub work in collaboration with companies to take action on the impact that plastic waste has on our oceans. They help connect brands who value environmental sustainability with local communities in South Asia, which is where over 80% of all waste plastic enters the ocean, to facilitate the collection, sorting, and safe processing of ocean-bound plastic.
Not only does this help prevent plastic pollution from entering the ocean, but it is also creating jobs within these local communities, and offering safer workplaces, fairer wages, and a more dignified and stable opportunity for waste workers.
By working in these areas we can intercept plastic pollution before it can make its way into the ocean, where it can cause havoc for the health of the ocean and the wildlife that inhabits it.
CleanHub choose to utilise waste collection methods with the lowest environmental impact, aiming to have as little impact on our natural resources as possible.
Once collected, the plastic pollution is sorted into the various different types of plastic, as plastic recycling methods vary depending on the type of plastic. Some items, like plastic bottles are sold to recycling programs as they are the easiest to process. Other items, like plastic bags are more difficult to recycle and need to be mechanically processed into 'secondary raw materials' so that they can be incorporated into new products.
While they aim to recycle as much of the waste plastic as possible, they do focus primarily on non-recyclable plastic like food packaging which makes up 80% of the waste that ends up in the ocean. Instead, they use these non-recyclable plastics to generate energy, offering an alternative to burning fossil fuels. By taking these actions, they can ensure that as little as possible ends up in landfill.
They also make it easy for collaborating brands to stay informed about their progress through their impact tracker, using track & trace technology that provides evidence of how much plastic is collected and where it ends up.
You can track the progress of Evapo’s plastic recovery on our live impact tracker.
How are Evapo promoting sustainability?
While our collaboration with CleanHub is a recent endeavour, we have been working hard behind the scenes to reduce our carbon footprint and promote business sustainability for some time now.
Reducing our carbon emissions
With 45+ UK stores that are receiving regular deliveries, and a thriving online store delivering to customers across the country, we have made it a priority to reduce our carbon emissions in any way we can.
We have undergone reviews of our air and car travel, electrical usage, and deliveries to help us identify where changes can be made.
For example, all company cars have been switched from diesel or petrol vehicles to electric vehicles, so that any essential travel our colleagues must make will have as little impact as possible. We have also switched the electricity suppliers of our retail stores to 100% renewable energy sources.
Sustainable materials
Alongside funding plastic waste recovery, we are also doing what we can to reduce the amount of plastic that could end up in landfill by utilising more environmentally friendly options.
GOV UK reported that in 2019 alone over 1 billion single-use plastic carrier bags were used, and these non-biodegradable bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down. From day one, we have only ever offered our customers recyclable paper bags in our stores, which they can easily recycle along with their usual household waste and recycling collections. We have also implemented small changes like replacing the plastic cups alongside our water coolers with paper alternatives.
While the boxes and packaging that most vape products come in are easily recycled, most e-liquids come in plastic bottles. We have moved all bottle production in our e-liquid manufacturing facilities to 30% recycled plastic, with the aim of increasing this amount over time. We are also working with our suppliers to support them in reducing the plastic used in their packaging.
Pushing for change
As a founding member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), and a proud member of the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), we are able to use our voice to push for change not only within the industry, but also with policy makers.
We are working hard to help our customers, and the wider vaping community, understand the benefits of reusable vaping options as opposed to disposable ones. We recently contributed to the government’s call for evidence which included information about how to minimise the environmental impact of vaping.
We are also actively pushing for policy makers to reassess the 10ml size limit for nicotine containing e-liquids. We estimate that by increasing the size of these bottles to 30ml or 50ml would result in the need for far fewer bottles, and could reduce the industry’s plastic bottle usage by up to 100 million bottles per year in the UK.
We have planted 24,000 amount of trees!
As an additional way to offset our carbon emissions, we have partnered with the charity Eden Reforestation Projects to help aid with global restoration of forests.
We have committed to planting one tree for every four BrewBox devices that are sold, and so far we have planted a whopping 24,000 trees to date!
You can read more about our efforts in our post ‘Sustainability at Evapo’. If you have any questions or want to learn more you can reach out to our Customer Service team online.
Sources
gov.uk 29/07/2022
