The plastic, hazardous and electronic devices were found in 7.7 per cent more sites in the 2024 financial year compared to the 12 months prior, Clean Up Australia's annual litter audit shows.
Electronic waste is now the seventh most collected category of litter, the first time it has made the top 10.
Single-use vapes were found at nearly a third of all sites between mid-2023 and mid-2024 despite a federal government ban on their importation early last year.
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan said a nationally-consistent vape disposal and recycling scheme would help keep vapes out of streets and parks, as well as general waste streams where their internal batteries could spark fires.
"Consumers don't know what to do with them," Ms Kiernan told AAP.
"We refer to them as the triple threat to the environment, because they're plastic waste, they're e-waste with a battery embedded in them, and they're hazardous waste."Â
Plastic remains Australia's biggest source of litter polluting the natural environment, making up more than 80 per cent of all litter collected by volunteers.
"It's predominantly plastic, predominantly packaging, lots of soft plastic, lots of cigarette butts, and most of it ends up in waterways," Ms Kiernan said.
Bans on single-use plastics have been coming in across most states and territories in stages yet not all items are declining.
Plastic bags, for example, clocked a 6.1 per cent increase, though plastic straws slid down the list and out of the top 10.
Ms Kiernan said single plastic phase-outs were effective and was disappointed by the United States moving away from paper straw purchases by federal agencies.
Plastic bottles logged further progress, sinking 1.6 per cent in the financial year.
Container deposit schemes are operational in a number of states and territories and will soon be rolled out in Tasmania.
Clean up Australia Day marks its 35th anniversary this year on March 2.
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