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I wouldn’t want to be the lawyer who one day will have to argue how a device with USB C and a rechargeable battery can be classified as “disposable”. I thought

by jrmg 1y ago

I wouldn’t want to be the lawyer who one day will have to argue how a device with USB C and a rechargeable battery can be classified as “disposable”. I thought the point of making them like this was that they technically are reusable, so they can sell them (to people who for some reason keep buying them and throwing them away!) in places where disposable vapes are banned.

bombcar 1y ago
Just like how places with bag bans often just end up with thicker plastic bags that can be sold for ten cents and claimed as “reusable.
- orev 1y ago
  They are reusable, which many people take advantage of. And it has dramatically reduced the number of tumbleweed bags clogging up nature.
  - privatelypublic 1y ago
    Reasonable people already reused single-use bags. Trashcan liners, dog walk bags, cat scoop bags, etc. Having recently been reminded that it used to be common to see eviscerated VHS tapes by roads, I've been reminded that we'll always have people who litter.
    - orev 1y ago
      I’m not sure what your point is: because one type of litter is reduced, it doesn’t matter because people still litter in other ways? In every place where plastic bags are banned, there’s a dramatic and obvious reduction in the amount of them clogging up trees, roads, fields, waterways, etc. If people need them for other purposes, they can buy them, while everyone else who doesn’t need them, doesn’t.
      - ewoodrich 1y ago
        Yep, every so often I remember staring out the window on the highway in the car as a kid and seeing single use bags snagged on fences or trees pretty much anywhere inaccessible or not routinely cleaned. I also catch it on B roll footage in movies or shows from the 90s/2000s a lot. It’s a specific type of visual blight I rarely ever see after those ultra flimsy single use bags that could be carried dozens of miles on a gentle breeze were eliminated. (This children's book was written basically at the tail end of the era where seeing a bag flying could conjure the imagination) https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Wind-Ted-Kooser/dp/0763630012#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Wind-Ted-Kooser/dp/0763630012#ave...
        bombcar 1y ago
        The bag bans in general are good - and heavy bags aren’t that bad, especially since they don’t blow as far or as easily.
    - MangoToupe 1y ago
      Many single use bags come with holes in them or develop them after a single trip hauling boxes with sharp corners home. Making the plastic a little thicker makes it last many times longer.
- WD-42 1y ago
  They make perfect office/bathroom trash can liners
  - xp84 1y ago
    They do, but they still don’t make it back to the stores enough, and nobody has 16 wastebaskets to line every week. Also the old ones were just as suitable for wastebasket duty. The bag laws have done nothing but increase the consumption of plastic, since stores still go through nearly as many, but they’re 5x thicker now.
    - what 1y ago
      Why are you buying 16 bags worth of stuff every week? That seems like the bigger problem.
      - bombcar 1y ago
        If you have a family and a grocery store in walking distance you can do it easily; I would hit 16 if I forgot my shopping bag - which I do on occasion.
    - WD-42 1y ago
      The only time I even get one of those things is if I forget my regular bag or I buy too much stuff to fit. That happens like once a month. Why are you going into the store empty handed and coming out with 16 plastic bags?
      - xp84 1y ago
        Not everyone is you. 16 is mild hyperbole, but I'm not even speaking normatively on what people should do. I'm speaking about what people do do. I'll stipulate that everyone including me should always keep at least 10 bags in my car so that I can do about 2 typical shopping trips even if I forget to put them back in the car. And we should always remember to carry them in. But that isn't happening with the current hilariously poor incentives in place (50 measly cents to buy 5 bags and no bag deposit either.) I predict that if you spend 10 minutes observing the checkouts in your supermarket you'll see exactly what I see: At least 75% of people buying new plastic bags for the transaction, and zero people depositing bags into the special bag recycling bin at the store - which in the US is basically the only place this type of plastic is even accepted for recycling. And again, these bags appear to be 3-5x as thick as the old bags, so the bag law is a huge win for Big Plastic who sells more plastic than they used to, and it mostly goes into the landfill. The solutions: • Admit this is a failed policy • Everyone everywhere stops being imperfect, forgetful and lazy -- 100% of the time. California is still hoping for the latter to pan out!
- meibo 1y ago
  You've misunderstood the assignment if you don't reuse those, they are perfectly fine for that and will last a long time. Just have one in your bag or car. I've even reused paper bags for more than half a year since the ban.
- ViscountPenguin 1y ago
  The majority of people reuse those bags, they're pretty great actually. Most people I know have slightly more expensive bags made out of fabric though.
  - pavon 1y ago
    Not here. Standing in line at stores like target that have them I see maybe 1/20 people checking out in front of me bring in reused disposable sacks, while 15/20 leave with new ones. Certainly not enough reuse to justify the extra thickness.
    - bombcar 1y ago
      I do really enjoy the thickness, and they do displace the cheaper ones in the tube of spares at home, but they’re just bags at the end of the day.
- darthwalsh 1y ago
  We get most of our groceries through Drive Up services, where you place an order the day before and they bring the groceries to your car. Through a combination of a new disability, and a new baby in our family, the convenience is well worth the price (free). But now every week we have more and more reusable bags that we can't find any use for, so we recycle a bunch each quarter. (And even that is questionable, when they are covered in impossible-to-remove stickers.)
zdragnar 1y ago
Some have replaceable pods / tanks, but most have no user serviceable parts whatsoever. One the liquid is low enough, the coil will burn a bit, and the whole thing should be disposed of. One shop near me would take used ones and send them off to be properly taken apart and what not, but most people just toss them I suspect.
- Gigachad 1y ago
  Some of the new ones have the coil and vape juice in a disposable section while the battery and charge circuitry are reused.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Each morning, I walk 5K. I start off in the dark. By midwinter, the whole walk is in the dark. I am constantly walking past disposable vapes in the street, with their LEDs still shining.
  - macintux 1y ago
    Growing up, smoking was quite common. A lot can change in 20-30 years, so I'm cautiously optimistic that maybe vaping will eventually become as socially unacceptable as smoking.
- extraduder_ire 1y ago
  If you're in the EU/UK the WEEE directive means anywhere selling them should take them back like-for-like to be directed into the correct waste stream. (they get paid some of the deposit on them to do so) I would be more fine with disposable vapes like this if almost all of them were recovered somehow, for the amount it subsidises production of Li-ion batteries.
  - xp84 1y ago
    Theoretically a high enough deposit could probably “fix the problem.” Like, if the empty was worth a $25 deposit most people would 100% take them back to the store. It would be annoying for people to have the high deposit, but it’s really a one-time expense. On the other hand at least in the US, a deposit of a buck or two wouldn’t do much. California has that for cans and bottles, yet only maybe 10% of people turn them in. Most end up in curbside recycling (which doesn’t refund) or the garbage, indicating people don’t care about getting their nickel or dime back.
Zak 1y ago
I'm confused by why anybody would buy one of these when entirely reusable versions exist, but then vaping seems unwise to me in general except as a way to quit tobacco.
- bloqs 1y ago
  i have owned lots. they taste better than most permanent vapes. ive tried the whole buy all the best components and perfect juices etc with various tanks of different flavours. disposables just work and taste good, no leaks. they also have a logical end point like a pack of cigarettes. Its nice to switch flavour more frequently, and the packet/vape body colours pressed deep monkey brain buttons for fruit etc
  - helf 1y ago
    [dead]
  - gilfoy 1y ago
    Looking back, the Juul product seems preferable to the current situation
    - MarcelOlsz 1y ago
      I did the math and Juul was 47x more expensive than the liquids (this is in Canada). Then I switched to the juice vapes, and finally to kick the juice vaping I picked up pipe tobacco. Pipe tobacco is way cheaper than cigs nevermind vapes, the highest quality, and tastes incredibly good (also, you can also get that "first cigarette headrush" every time if you like by inhaling, works every time).
      - kristianp 1y ago
        I used to love the smell of my Grandfather's pipe smoke. I still enjoy the occasional 2nd-hand smell of a rollup. Is pipe tobacco different to rollies?
cjaackie 1y ago
No, it’s there because the battery can’t hold enough charge for the ratio of vape liquid they put in it. So you get 2-3 full charges and it runs out of liquid.

by jrmg 1y ago

bombcar 1y ago

Just like how places with bag bans often just end up with thicker plastic bags that can be sold for ten cents and claimed as “reusable.

orev 1y ago
They are reusable, which many people take advantage of. And it has dramatically reduced the number of tumbleweed bags clogging up nature.
- privatelypublic 1y ago
  Reasonable people already reused single-use bags. Trashcan liners, dog walk bags, cat scoop bags, etc. Having recently been reminded that it used to be common to see eviscerated VHS tapes by roads, I've been reminded that we'll always have people who litter.
  - orev 1y ago
    I’m not sure what your point is: because one type of litter is reduced, it doesn’t matter because people still litter in other ways? In every place where plastic bags are banned, there’s a dramatic and obvious reduction in the amount of them clogging up trees, roads, fields, waterways, etc. If people need them for other purposes, they can buy them, while everyone else who doesn’t need them, doesn’t.
    - ewoodrich 1y ago
      Yep, every so often I remember staring out the window on the highway in the car as a kid and seeing single use bags snagged on fences or trees pretty much anywhere inaccessible or not routinely cleaned. I also catch it on B roll footage in movies or shows from the 90s/2000s a lot. It’s a specific type of visual blight I rarely ever see after those ultra flimsy single use bags that could be carried dozens of miles on a gentle breeze were eliminated. (This children's book was written basically at the tail end of the era where seeing a bag flying could conjure the imagination) https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Wind-Ted-Kooser/dp/0763630012#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Wind-Ted-Kooser/dp/0763630012#ave...
      - bombcar 1y ago
        The bag bans in general are good - and heavy bags aren’t that bad, especially since they don’t blow as far or as easily.
  - MangoToupe 1y ago
    Many single use bags come with holes in them or develop them after a single trip hauling boxes with sharp corners home. Making the plastic a little thicker makes it last many times longer.
WD-42 1y ago
They make perfect office/bathroom trash can liners
- xp84 1y ago
  They do, but they still don’t make it back to the stores enough, and nobody has 16 wastebaskets to line every week. Also the old ones were just as suitable for wastebasket duty. The bag laws have done nothing but increase the consumption of plastic, since stores still go through nearly as many, but they’re 5x thicker now.
  - what 1y ago
    Why are you buying 16 bags worth of stuff every week? That seems like the bigger problem.
    - bombcar 1y ago
      If you have a family and a grocery store in walking distance you can do it easily; I would hit 16 if I forgot my shopping bag - which I do on occasion.
  - WD-42 1y ago
    The only time I even get one of those things is if I forget my regular bag or I buy too much stuff to fit. That happens like once a month. Why are you going into the store empty handed and coming out with 16 plastic bags?
    - xp84 1y ago
      Not everyone is you. 16 is mild hyperbole, but I'm not even speaking normatively on what people should do. I'm speaking about what people do do. I'll stipulate that everyone including me should always keep at least 10 bags in my car so that I can do about 2 typical shopping trips even if I forget to put them back in the car. And we should always remember to carry them in. But that isn't happening with the current hilariously poor incentives in place (50 measly cents to buy 5 bags and no bag deposit either.) I predict that if you spend 10 minutes observing the checkouts in your supermarket you'll see exactly what I see: At least 75% of people buying new plastic bags for the transaction, and zero people depositing bags into the special bag recycling bin at the store - which in the US is basically the only place this type of plastic is even accepted for recycling. And again, these bags appear to be 3-5x as thick as the old bags, so the bag law is a huge win for Big Plastic who sells more plastic than they used to, and it mostly goes into the landfill. The solutions: • Admit this is a failed policy • Everyone everywhere stops being imperfect, forgetful and lazy -- 100% of the time. California is still hoping for the latter to pan out!
meibo 1y ago
You've misunderstood the assignment if you don't reuse those, they are perfectly fine for that and will last a long time. Just have one in your bag or car. I've even reused paper bags for more than half a year since the ban.
ViscountPenguin 1y ago
The majority of people reuse those bags, they're pretty great actually. Most people I know have slightly more expensive bags made out of fabric though.
- pavon 1y ago
  Not here. Standing in line at stores like target that have them I see maybe 1/20 people checking out in front of me bring in reused disposable sacks, while 15/20 leave with new ones. Certainly not enough reuse to justify the extra thickness.
  - bombcar 1y ago
    I do really enjoy the thickness, and they do displace the cheaper ones in the tube of spares at home, but they’re just bags at the end of the day.
darthwalsh 1y ago
We get most of our groceries through Drive Up services, where you place an order the day before and they bring the groceries to your car. Through a combination of a new disability, and a new baby in our family, the convenience is well worth the price (free). But now every week we have more and more reusable bags that we can't find any use for, so we recycle a bunch each quarter. (And even that is questionable, when they are covered in impossible-to-remove stickers.)

zdragnar 1y ago

Some have replaceable pods / tanks, but most have no user serviceable parts whatsoever. One the liquid is low enough, the coil will burn a bit, and the whole thing should be disposed of. One shop near me would take used ones and send them off to be properly taken apart and what not, but most people just toss them I suspect.

Gigachad 1y ago
Some of the new ones have the coil and vape juice in a disposable section while the battery and charge circuitry are reused.
ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Each morning, I walk 5K. I start off in the dark. By midwinter, the whole walk is in the dark. I am constantly walking past disposable vapes in the street, with their LEDs still shining.
- macintux 1y ago
  Growing up, smoking was quite common. A lot can change in 20-30 years, so I'm cautiously optimistic that maybe vaping will eventually become as socially unacceptable as smoking.
extraduder_ire 1y ago
If you're in the EU/UK the WEEE directive means anywhere selling them should take them back like-for-like to be directed into the correct waste stream. (they get paid some of the deposit on them to do so) I would be more fine with disposable vapes like this if almost all of them were recovered somehow, for the amount it subsidises production of Li-ion batteries.
- xp84 1y ago
  Theoretically a high enough deposit could probably “fix the problem.” Like, if the empty was worth a $25 deposit most people would 100% take them back to the store. It would be annoying for people to have the high deposit, but it’s really a one-time expense. On the other hand at least in the US, a deposit of a buck or two wouldn’t do much. California has that for cans and bottles, yet only maybe 10% of people turn them in. Most end up in curbside recycling (which doesn’t refund) or the garbage, indicating people don’t care about getting their nickel or dime back.

Zak 1y ago

I'm confused by why anybody would buy one of these when entirely reusable versions exist, but then vaping seems unwise to me in general except as a way to quit tobacco.

bloqs 1y ago
i have owned lots. they taste better than most permanent vapes. ive tried the whole buy all the best components and perfect juices etc with various tanks of different flavours. disposables just work and taste good, no leaks. they also have a logical end point like a pack of cigarettes. Its nice to switch flavour more frequently, and the packet/vape body colours pressed deep monkey brain buttons for fruit etc
- helf 1y ago
  [dead]
- gilfoy 1y ago
  Looking back, the Juul product seems preferable to the current situation
  - MarcelOlsz 1y ago
    I did the math and Juul was 47x more expensive than the liquids (this is in Canada). Then I switched to the juice vapes, and finally to kick the juice vaping I picked up pipe tobacco. Pipe tobacco is way cheaper than cigs nevermind vapes, the highest quality, and tastes incredibly good (also, you can also get that "first cigarette headrush" every time if you like by inhaling, works every time).
    - kristianp 1y ago
      I used to love the smell of my Grandfather's pipe smoke. I still enjoy the occasional 2nd-hand smell of a rollup. Is pipe tobacco different to rollies?

cjaackie 1y ago

No, it’s there because the battery can’t hold enough charge for the ratio of vape liquid they put in it. So you get 2-3 full charges and it runs out of liquid.