Vaping company RLX Technology is to turn used pods into cement

YANJI, China, Sept. 9, 2021

RLX, maker of RELX-branded vaporizers and e-liquid pods that it only sells in China, together with China Siyuan Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, will donate the cement to China's rural areas to build infrastructure such as road and bridges.

The Pods Recycling project will officially launch in September starting from Beijing and gradually cover 10 Chinese cities by next February. It aims to cover all RELX-branded stores in China by the end of 2022. RLX will collect not only its own used pods, but of all various brands.

As vaping gains in popularity, how to deal with the used pods has become a major concern for not only companies but users.

There are existing ways to process the used pods at present, such as burning or burying as regular trash. But, according to Guo Guangdong, Head of Public Relations and External Affairs of RLX, those measures cannot solve the problem from the root as they cause secondary environmental harm and produce no further economic value.

"Our goal was clear at the very first when we started the project, we wanted a solution that can efficiently recycle the materials and create more value," he said. 

During the research, RLX found that although cement is mainly made of limestone and clay, metal and other solid wastes also play an indispensable role in cement producing to optimize its functionality for various usages. The materials of disposal pods can perfectly meet the requirement of cement.