California will ban the sale of disposable nicotine vapes starting in 2027, and the state's waste and recycling sector — which has absorbed years of lithium-ion battery fires on tipping floors and in processing equipment — backed the measure to the finish line. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 762 into law on Monday.

The statute works in two stages. It prohibits the import or manufacture of new or refurbished battery-embedded disposable nicotine vapes in California after Jan. 1, 2027. Sales of the devices must end by Jan. 1, 2028.

For material recovery facility operators and haulers, the ban targets a specific and growing operational hazard. Vapes carry embedded lithium-ion cells, and the devices have drawn increasing attention across the waste and recycling industry in recent years as a reported driver of facility fires. The problem is mechanical as much as chemical: the small devices are difficult to identify and pull off tipping floors and out of processing equipment before a cell is crushed or shorted.

Industry groups have documented that fire risk has risen alongside the popularity of single-use models, which put a non-removable battery into the waste stream with every discarded unit. At the same time, end-of-life options remain thin. The waste sector has grappled with how to handle spent vapes, and few practical recycling or disposal routes currently exist.

"This is a win for the firefighters, local governments, and ratepayers who have been footing the bill for the lithium-ion battery fires all this time. The waste system shouldn't have to clean up after an industry's design choices," said Tony Hacket, a policy associate for Californians Against Waste, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin carried the legislation alongside Californians Against Waste, the California Product Stewardship Council, the California Public Interest Research Group and RethinkWaste. The bill also drew support from the Resource Recovery Coalition of California, haulers and area sanitation districts — a coalition that spans advocacy groups and the major players handling the material.

Irwin framed the devices as an environmental liability for the state because they are not readily recyclable, leading them to be "haphazardly thrown away after limited use," she said in a statement.

CalPIRG's objection also ran through the materials themselves. Single-use vapes contain copper wire and lithium — commodities that "not only require environmentally destructive mining operations to extract, but also could instead be used for longer-lasting and more socially beneficial devices," such as electric vehicle batteries, the group said in a statement.

"We shouldn't tolerate electronic devices that are designed to be unrepairable and disposable," said Meghan Smith, PIRG's New Economy associate organizing director, in a statement. "These devices have similar components to a smartphone. Imagine if you had to throw away your phone every time the battery ran out."

Supporters of the law expect a design consequence: with only rechargeable, refillable devices legal to sell after January 2028, the vape industry will have to shift its product line toward those formats.

Newsom also signed a companion measure, AB 2667, which directs the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to study better methods for properly disposing of vape pens — particularly devices confiscated from schools. Schools are seizing vapes but often lack safe ways to manage and dispose of them, supporters said. Backers of that bill include the National Stewardship Action Council, Californians Against Waste, the California Product Stewardship Council, Republic Services, Recology, RethinkWaste and the Resource Recovery Coalition of California.

The California measures follow a national pattern of states turning to legislation to keep vape batteries out of the waste stream. In April, Maine became the first state in the country to establish an extended producer responsibility program for vapes, shifting end-of-life costs back onto producers rather than local collection and processing systems.

The near-term markers to watch: the AB 762 manufacture-and-import cutoff on Jan. 1, 2027, the sales ban on Jan. 1, 2028, and whatever disposal protocols the DTSC's AB 2667 review produces for confiscated devices.