Dad explains how to turn discarded vapes into phone chargers
| Published date | 18 April 2024 |
| Publication title | WalesOnline (Wales) |
He hopes his discovery will help inspire people to come up with creative ways of reusing and recycling disposable vapes rather than simply throwing them away, but warned it is important to take certain safety precautions so that the batteries do not overheat and catch fire. Mark uses a battery management system, a small chip that costs around 10p and shuts down the circuit if the battery gets too hot.
It is estimated that around five million single-use vapes are being thrown away every week in the UK, according to the Government – which is planning on banning them by the end of next year at the latest. “The best thing about it is that you are using a resource that is free and getting some benefit out of it before it actually goes to recycling,” he said.
“There’s no obvious way of recycling them unless you go into a vape shop. They just seem to appear, because people have chucked them in the street.
“I didn’t even know that there was nicotine in them – I guess that’s why they are so addictive.”
Mark was out for a walk in June 2023 when he spotted a “stash” of discarded vapes bundled together. “It was as if the fairy godmother of vapes had waved a magic wand,” he said.
“I immediately saw one in the gutter and picked it up. Then I walked a little further and there was a stash of five vapes that had been left on a wall by the bus stop.”
Back home, Mark set to work, taking each one of the colourful smoking devices apart, piece by piece. Mark discovered that they were being powered by a type of lithium-ion rechargeable battery and had a brainwave.
“If you think about a Tesla, that uses the same type of battery that you get in big, chunky vapes,” he said. “So in theory, you could power a Tesla with it, but that level power could be dangerous because it would heat up.”
He began by ordering a battery case, or power bank shell, on Amazon, which he said costs between four and five pounds. He then used a soldering iron to join the batteries to the case, effectively creating a homemade, rechargeable power bank.
“I took one of these DIY battery packs and...
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