In a new report, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that e-cigarettes are not only a growing, unsustainable environmental hazard, but the federation is also recommending that the federal government issue a complete ban to mitigate any further damage to the environment.

As the popularity of e-cigarettes has increased, so has pollution from e-cigarettes, according to Public Interest Research Group.

“I don’t know who looked at cigarette buds littering our beaches and thought about how they could make trash that would be more harmful and last longer,” said Lucas Gutterman, who leads Public Interest Research Group’s Designed to Last campaign.

Gutterman, who explained the report at a media availability outside of P.S. 199 Jessie Isador Straus on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Tuesday, said vaping materials are non-biodegradable, contain harmful plastics, electronics and chemicals, and have lithium-ion batteries that cannot be recycled.

“This is just soddered into the device,” Gutterman said. “This is partly what makes them so difficult to be recycled. There’s no way to take the lithium-ion battery out of this devise.”

The release of the report comes as nearly 200 companies, including 7-Eleven and BP, were issued warning letters by the FDA in June for selling unauthorized disposable e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems.

“Who cares about the environmental effects as long as they’re making money?” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who also attended Tuesday’s media availability.

E-cigarettes are found to be, in some cases, more toxic than regular cigarettes, and they are particularly harmful to minors.

The report also comes as the city has begun a crackdown on four manufacturers in the state that continue to violate state and city law by selling vaping products online.

But that still leaves the problem of smaller smoke shops, bodegas and other stores selling vaping products to minors.

“You’re talking about 1,400 or 1,500 in the state of New York, so you have the legislation, you have the sheriff, you have corporation counsel going after them,” said Councilmember Gail Brewer, who also was at Tuesday’s press conference.

Lawmakers are also exploring ways to make sure that the shops that are selling vaping products to minors illegally do not re-open once they are shut down. Lawmakers say that may involve giving out heavy fines.