Safe Disposal of Nicotine

[dragonpuff]

I'm posting this in the general discussions forum because I honestly don't know where it belongs Anyways...

I've been vaping for awhile now and i find myself accumulating empty nicotine bottles. I save them because i fear that throwing them away, whether in the trash or recycle bin, could lead to small animals being poisoned by them

My question is primarily geared toward anyone with knowledge of chemistry: what can i rinse the bottles with that will bind with nicotine, rendering it inactive and, therefore, safe enough for disposal?

[optsmk]

Just screw the cap on and throw them in the garbage. If you are that worried about the nic, just rinse them out in the sink first.

[Garrell6888]

If there's less than a drop, nothing to worry about. When I first got my prefilled 510 carts (having .5ml of niquid), it said this could kill a small child. one drop is about 1/20 of a ml, so I doubt that anything will die from it.

[Mia]

If your concerned, rinse with hot water, let it soak with a drop of 'dawn original (blue) dish washing liquid and water for five minutes. Pour it out and throw the bottle away.

Dawn is awesome stuff and can clean many things.

[maureengill]

Don't i remember them using dawn to clean up animals that were caught in an oil spill? If that is the case....the dawn would definitely cut it with the nicotine I would think...

Maureen

[Kurt]

Chemist here. All components of e-juice are water soluble. I wouldn't try to "bind it up", but I do like your thinking as to why it would be a good idea. The only thing I think you could have areound that might do this is vinegar, but this will just make it nicotinium acetate partially, which would just go back to nic when very dilute in the waste effluent. Just rinse the bottles out with hot water. As for toxicity, nic is in all plant material, not just tobacco. It is part of photosynthesis. So even if it ends up in a stream or river, any plant material rotting in the same stream is adding nic too. Not an issue. But I am very happy you are concerned about the toxicity of nic! Keep that attitude, especially if you work with 60-100 mg juice...it will keep you safe!

[dragonpuff]

Chemist here. All components of e-juice are water soluble. I wouldn't try to "bind it up", but I do like your thinking as to why it would be a good idea. The only thing I think you could have areound that might do this is vinegar, but this will just make it nicotinium acetate partially, which would just go back to nic when very dilute in the waste effluent. Just rinse the bottles out with hot water. As for toxicity, nic is in all plant material, not just tobacco. It is part of photosynthesis. So even if it ends up in a stream or river, any plant material rotting in the same stream is adding nic too. Not an issue. But I am very happy you are concerned about the toxicity of nic! Keep that attitude, especially if you work with 60-100 mg juice...it will keep you safe!

Thank you very much Kurt, that is exactly the kind of answer i was looking for

Yeah i do remember NAD, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, being part of the glucose cycle. I found that interesting but couldn't make the connection. I figured it wasn't the same since it was an amide of nicotine and not nicotine itself. Well i guess it shows that i haven't finished organic chem yet!

Again, thank you! I appreciate it

[CarolG]

Thanks so much for this. I've been trying to find out the answers to this for a while, and it's good to hear from a chemist.