We ask ourselves this a lot at iBreathe. Where we can, we act. But the fact remains: the e-cigarette industry isn’t sustainable enough. One of the biggest challenges we face is plastic – pods, e-liquid bottles and delivery packaging. It doesn’t belong in landfill; our planet deserves better than that. So, here’s what we’re doing about it and what more we think we can do. We’d love to hear your thoughts, too.
Helping you dispose of used pods
For starters, our new nicotine replacement pod, Xero, launches in January 2021. We’ll help you figure out how many pods you need based on your nicotine intake, and we’ll deliver them on set dates so that you never run out. We want to make it easier for you to stop smoking, and we hope this will do that. But to make sure we provide you with the best product, the pods are made from durable plastic, and each one lasts for 350 puffs before it should be thrown away. We realised this wasn’t sustainable. We made them. Therefore, we have a role to play to make sure they don’t end up in landfill. That’s why, when Xero launches, we’ll give you the option to return your used pods to us at no extra cost to you. Then, we’ll recycle them for you. In the long-term, we’d love to do something similar to this with our e-liquids.
Making our deliveries more eco-friendly
To make our products, we need to order things in. Often, these deliveries travel long distances wrapped in lots of plastic and cardboard packaging – not good. We can’t change these basic facts. But we can, and do, order more stuff in one go whenever we can. For example, one bigger delivery a month, instead of five smaller ones, uses less packaging and less fuel (because it takes fewer trips). Plus, we recycle all the cardboard they come in, and all the plastic that’s recyclable. Is there more that we can do here? Tell us.
E-liquid bottles
As it is, our e-liquids come in plastic bottles. This is how it’s done across the e-cigarette industry. But there’s an issue – plastic bottles take around 450 years to decompose! Safe to say, a 10ml bottle of e-liquid doesn’t need to last that long (more like a day or two). In other words, plastic is a bit too effective as packaging. So, we’re coming up with ways to tackle this:
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Deposit bins
We’re looking at putting deposit bins outside shops that sell iBreathe products, including petrol stations. Then, when you drop by, you can drop your empty e-liquid bottles into the iBreathe bin, and we’ll recycle them for you. Think of a battery recycle bin, but for e-liquid bottles. Would this be helpful to you? Whether it’s yes or no, we want to know.
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Sustainable packaging
As well as recycling the used bottles, we’ve been brainstorming ideas to make them from something that’s better for the planet. We could make them from recycled plastics. Or, we could use biodegradable materials, such as plants – these break down naturally, so they never need to be recycled or put into landfill. Or maybe we could have a mixture of both, like Innocent drinks do with their bottles.
Thoughts? Share them with us.
The e-cigarette industry – our industry – creates tonnes of plastic, and we’re not going to quietly sweep it all under the rug. At iBreathe, we’re doing our best, but we want to do more. Whether you agree or disagree with our ideas, or have something to add, please share your thoughts in the comments below, or get in touch with us.