Ban on vapes, recycling of critical materials could manage EV parts supplies: Report

A new report has suggested to ban on single-use vapes and recycling of critical materials to help manage EV battery parts supplies.

The report from the Royal Academy of Engineering demands the UK government commit to implementing the ban on single-use vapes in England proposed in January 2024.

The report also requested the government to consider policy options for evaluating and monitoring new and existing products that may warrant similar prohibition due to inclusion of disposable batteries without appropriate end-of-life planning.

Integrated materials strategy

Published by the National Engineering Policy Centre, the report is requesting the UK government to develop an integrated materials strategy to reduce demand, reuse and recycle critical materials to support the UK’s existing Net Zero Strategy and improve economic security.

“The way we extract and consume materials is unsustainable and we must address it urgently. Our report highlights the rising demand for critical materials , driven in part by their use in batteries, power systems and electronics,” said Joan Cordiner, Professor of Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield , chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Working Group on Materials and Net Zero.

Size of UK’s larger electric vehicle batteries should be reduced

Cordiner highlighted that for example, if the the size of the UK’s larger electric vehicle batteries is reduced by 30 per cent, “we could cut our lithium demand by 17 per cent and save 75 million tonnes of rock mined for lithium by 2040 – that’s the equivalent of 19 Wembley Stadiums full of rock.”

It’s true that there’s a finite amount of rare and critical minerals, such as lithium, magnesium and neodynium (to name but a few… there’s actually about 18 materials designated critical) globally. But the chemical engineers reckon its not just about issuing licences to parts of Wales and Cornwall to unlock domestic stores of these valuable commodities, reported Top Gear .

National Materials Data Hub

The report also suggests maintaining a National Materials Data Hub to monitor the sustainability of materials consumed by and in use in the UK, and enable assessment of infrastructure plans for material security and sustainability. Government should also work internationally to improve traceability and measure the global impacts of our materials’ emissions, pollution, and social harms, using tools such as digital passporting, according to the report .

The authors of the report also proposed a new target to halve the UK’s economy-wide material footprint to help us avoid overconsumption and support the drive to reach net zero carbon emissions.

Recover critical materials

As currently designed, recovering critical materials from current products requires highly intricate processes, which are often prohibitively expensive, and a significant amount of electronic waste is disposed to landfill, despite containing valuable materials, according to the authors .

“Globally, 62 million tonnes of e-waste are generated every year, and the UK produces the second highest amount of e-waste per capita,” said Mark Enzer FREng, Working Group member.

FREng stressed that International e-Waste Day next week provides a sobering opportunity for us to reflect on the urgent need to engineer a greener future.

“Otherwise, the state of our environment and the supply of items like lithium-ion batteries looks bleak without more recycling and moving away from how we dispose of our old electronic devices,” added Mark.

Cordiner stressed that the UK can no longer ignore the unsustainability of our materials consumption, nor the role materials play in addressing climate change. This report highlights that the sharply rising demand for critical materials is in part due to the infrastructure and energy demands created by decarbonisation of the UK.

“We are not the only country that will be competing for these finite critical materials that are driving environmentally and socially costly extraction. This report recommends that government takes action to have a demand-side strategy and policy framework for critical materials,” added Cordiner .