The city of Casey is now home to Victoria’s first, free vape disposal points, with locations in Narre Warren, Hampton Park and Clyde.
The disposal points are now available at these locations; the Hampton Park Transfer Station at 274 Hallam Road, Melanie’s Recycle and Community Collection Hub at 13 Pasadena Boulevard, Clyde, and finally at Casey ARC Customer Service at 10 Patrick Northeast Drive Narre Warren.
Casey’s chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM said that this initiative was established due to no options being available anywhere across the state for the safe disposal of vapes.
“This has led to the unsafe disposal of vapes in kerbside bins, resulting in dangerous fires in trucks and recycling facilities.
“The absence of dedicated drop-off points also resulted in an increase of vapes being littered across the municipality,” she said.
The new disposal points were made possible with the council’s partnership with Ecocycle, experts in mercury recycling and recovery and Envirostream who offers mixed battery recycling.
Since its opening in November 2023, 88 kilograms, or approximately 1467 vapes have been collected, with Melanie’s Recycle Hub being the most popular with 43kg, followed by Hampton Park Transfer Station collection 37kg and Casey ARC with 18kg.
The vapes, once collected, are then safely transported, disassembled and processed through a specialised recycling system.
Ms Duff said council has provided information and guidance around vape recycling to 26 Victorian councils, as well as Monash Health.
“This has led to other councils holding vape collecting events, as well as the opening of another disposal point at St Kilda Town Hall in February this year,” Ms Duff said.
