Disposable vapes are being given a second life on the Ukrainian front lines, thanks to volunteers in the UK who are recycling the banned products into power sources for soldiers.
The initiative is run by the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association (LUCA), which dismantles single-use vapes to extract batteries and wires. Those components are shipped to Ukraine, where they are repurposed into portable chargers and energy packs.
Drones, phones and night vision
The recycled devices are used to power drones, phones, night vision equipment and, in some cases, provide light or heat for cooking in the trenches.
Viacheslav Semeniuk, a LUCA trustee, said: “This is sometimes the only source of power. We crack open the vape and pull out the battery, isolate the wires, and pack them into boxes. If we can utilise whatever is not needed anymore and make it for free, why not?”
The project highlights an unexpected use for products that until recently were being discarded in staggering numbers. Before the UK’s ban on single-use vapes earlier this year, an estimated 8.2 million were being thrown away each week. The government cited environmental concerns and fears over youth vaping when it introduced the prohibition.
For Semeniuk, the work is both practical and personal. The 42-year-old, who has lived in the UK for more than a decade, told the BBC he struggles to watch the war unfold from Leeds.
“I feel some kind of guilt that I am not there, fighting on the front line – but I cannot leave my family here. My daughter’s godfather died fighting last year, he was my best friend from kindergarten – so it is really difficult being here. That is why I do what I do.”
Sometimes the only source of power
He added that the repurposed vape batteries are used “as a light source and in cooking,” and stressed that in some situations “this is sometimes the only source of power.”
Since 2014, LUCA has worked to support Ukrainians in and around Leeds by promoting language, culture and heritage. But since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the group has massively expanded its role.
Alongside sending dismantled vapes to Ukraine, LUCA has organised concerts, barbecues and film screenings to raise funds, as well as donating clothing and essentials to refugees.
Semeniuk said that while the project has proved effective, it relies on only a handful of volunteers. “Usually it is just two or three people doing this,” he explained. “I have spent hours sitting at home with my daughter, cracking the vapes and pulling out the batteries.”
He said he was “pleased” to contribute, despite the small scale of the work. “This has been ongoing for years, and we are not stopping. We will keep going.”
The initiative comes as part of a wider UK effort to provide support to Ukraine.
In parallel, charities such as FIRE AID, backed by the UK government, have organised humanitarian convoys that have delivered fire and rescue vehicles, specialised equipment and aid supplies.
For LUCA, however, the focus remains to make use of what would otherwise be wasted. Semeniuk said: “If we can utilise whatever is not needed any more and make it for free, why not?”
