Vapes are now being accepted at household waste recycling centres in Alton, Bordon and Petersfield.

Hampshire County Council has made the move in a bid to reduce littering and plastic waste, with around 1.3 million single-use vapes being discarded every week.

They’ve also joined calls to ban single-use vapes amid concerns over the growing number of under-age users.

Single-use vapes also contain lithium-ion batteries which can catch alight if broken. More than 700 fires in bin lorries and recycling centres nationally have been caused by batteries dumped in general waste.

Councillor Nick Adams-King, the county council’s executive lead member for universal services, said: “Discarded vapes are an increasingly common eyesore in our villages, towns and cities, which creates tonnes of additional plastic litter.

"This is just one reason, alongside serious health concerns over under-age vaping, why the County Council is joining local authorities across the UK to call for a ban on single use vapes.

“To help tackle the environmental impact of vapes, all our Household Waste Recycling Centres can now accept reusable, refillable and disposable vapes for recycling.

"Most large supermarkets and some shops also have special bins where batteries, including single use vapes, can be disposed of safely.

"Anything containing batteries, including vapes, should never be placed in your waste or recycling bin at home, as they are inflammable and can spontaneously combust.

"Rogue batteries are the single biggest cause of fire in refuse trucks and waste sites, which poses an avoidable risk to staff and unnecessary cost burden on taxpayer-funded services. It can also mean a truckload of valuable recyclable material that were carefully sorted by residents going up in smoke.”

Household Waste Recycling Centres can accept all types of vapes and the guidance is not to dismantle the items in any way before disposal for safety reasons, unless the batteries can be safely removed for separate recycling.

In Hampshire, the county council estimates one fire a month on average in a waste truck or waste facility can be attributed to a battery, faulty electrical item or disposable barbecue.

A battery was the suspected cause of a significant fire at the Portsmouth Materials Recovery Facility in 2021 which closed the site for three months.

Household Waste Recycling Centres can accept all types of vapes and the guidance is not to dismantle the items in any way before disposal for safety reasons, unless the batteries can be safely removed for separate recycling.