He said he finds pods thrown away all over the school, including in between furniture cushions.Īs we walked around Boulder High, custodian Allen Chavez showed me where he finds empty Juul pods. In November, Boulder votersĪll electronic smoking devices, including vape pens and the disposable pods.Ĭolorado Public Radio Boulder High custodian Allen Chavez shows a hole in the wall in a boy's bathroom where students deposit finished pods. Website about e-cigarettes and vaping that includes information on safe disposal. Boulder's schools and its health and waste management departments teamed up to create a In Boulder, the community is responding to the onslaught of waste. Where old cartridges and sleek battery-laden devices go after they're used is becoming a huge problem for waste managers - and school administrators. In 2017, people bought more thanġ6 million of the devices in the U.S., a figure that doesn't include the disposable pods, which in the case of Juul, are often sold in packs of four. Smoking device, often called a "vape pen," which can look like an actual pen or an innocuous digital accessory such as a flash drive. The disposable pod is a small plastic cartridge that holds the nicotine liquid. The surge in vaping has led to health problems, of course, but has also created a new environmental problem in discarded pens and the abundant pods that come with them. Topped the list for teen vaping in 2018, and Boulder is It really has become an epidemic in our schools, and not just here at Boulder High, but every high school in the nation is really dealing with this." The extent of the trash reveals "how much this has become a part of our students' lives," Lewis says. Outside in the school parking lot, Lewis spots some discarded packaging and picked it up: "This one is an Orion vape device, it looks like." A little further on, she spotted a pile of vaping waste: "Yep, more Juul pods." She finds them even farther out: along the edge of nearby Boulder Creek, and in the yards of homes across from the school. But Lewis and other school employees still regularly pluck e-cigarettes from students' hands or find them scattered all around. The box is filled with vape pens like Juuls, the leading brand of e-cigarettes, dozens of disposable pods for nicotine liquid, and even a lonely box of Marlboros.Īt Boulder High, students are prohibited from smoking cigarettes or vaping electronic cigarettes anywhere on school grounds. "This is everything that we've confiscated." "This is what I call the box of death," says Kristen Lewis. Boulder High School, the assistant principal has a large cardboard box where she can toss the spoils of her ongoing battle with the newest student addiction.
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