Story submitted by Garrett Moore from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management
With the 2025-2026 school year starting, a buzz across the state has grown louder around the growing issue of vape and e-cigarette waste that’s burdening school districts. With this growing concern driving up operating costs and risking the health of safety of both staff and students, teams in several departments of the state government worked diligently to address the issue in time for the new school year.
Public Health Administrator Melina Rivera of the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) heard vocal concerns about a lack of guidance on how to properly dispose of vape waste. In response, Rivera created the multidepartment Indiana Vape Waste Group to produce a guidance document for schools on how to properly collect, store, and dispose of the hazardous vape and e-cigarette waste.
For technical expertise she sought out Assistant Deputy Director Andrew Pappas of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), who organized IDEM’s efforts in helping create this guidance document.
“We knew that our Tobacco and Cessation Division couldn’t just tackle this on our own. Because we are not environmental specialists, we knew we had to bring in other subject matter experts”- Rivera
IDEM
Pappas put together a team with Program Director Herb Engman and Senior Environmental Manager Matthew Peterschmidt to give focus and technical expertise in drafting the guidance document. Pappas outlined the three primary hazards of vape and e-cigarette waste that needed to be addressed in the document: lithium-ion battery fires, toxic nicotine isolates, and school infrastructure damage.
Engman, who is also a school liaison, emphasized the importance of locating options for school districts where they can properly dispose of the small and difficult to recycle vapes. Peterschmidt provided the expertise necessary for schools to understand their options and requirements to safely collect and store the large volumes of vape waste, per the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and 40 CFR Part 266 Subpart P.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the Indiana Vape Waste Group and its many partners, a comprehensive guidance document has been published for the 2025-2026 school year which outlines options for school districts to safely collect, store, and dispose of vape and e-cigarette waste.