Disposable vapes to be banned in England and Wales

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Disposable vapes will be banned in England and Wales from next summer as part of a drive to protect children’s health and curb a “throwaway culture”, ministers have said.

Single-use e-cigarettes, which cannot be reused or recharged, have soared in popularity among young people in recent years, with usage in England jumping more than 400 per cent between 2012 and 2023.

On Thursday, the UK government introduced legislation to parliament setting out the ban and giving businesses until June 1 2025 to sell any remaining stock.

Mary Creagh, circular economy minister, said disposable e-cigarettes were “extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities”. “That is why we are banning single-use vapes as we end this nation’s throwaway culture,” she added.

Ministers have previously acknowledged that vaping can be helpful for adults who are trying to reduce or quit smoking, but they have also voiced concern over the impact of vape flavours and their “visually appealing packaging” on young people.

About 20 per cent of children aged between 11 and 17 had tried vaping as of 2023, up from 14 per cent in 2020 before the first Covid-19 lockdown, according to Action on Smoking and Health. A smaller proportion, 3.6 per cent, vaped more than once a week, the charity said.

Across the UK, about 5mn single-use vapes were either discarded as litter or disposed of in general waste every week last year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Some 40 tonnes of lithium were used in single-use vapes sold in the UK in 2022, a sufficient quantity of the rare metal to power 5,000 electric vehicles. 

The previous Conservative government — which held a consultation on smoking and vaping last year that was backed by the now ruling Labour party, and in January set out the legislation that was formally introduced on Thursday — said disposable vapes were behind the rise in young people vaping.

After then prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the plan to disposable vapes in January, vape manufacturers said they were “dismayed” and that the products helped to reduce UK smoking rates.

Health minister Andrew Gwynne said on Thursday that it was “deeply worrying” that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds used a vape last year.

“Banning disposable vapes will not only protect the environment, but importantly reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people,” he said.

Disposable vapes are set to be banned from April 1 2025 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

UK ministers are still considering extending restrictions on cigarette smoking to outdoor areas including pub gardens and children’s playgrounds in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, set out by the current government in the King’s Speech in July.

The legislation, which was drawn up by the last government, will ban the sale of cigarettes to children born on or after January 1 2009, and impose further limits on the sale and marketing of vapes.

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Ash, said Britons were “fed up of seeing disposable vapes littered across [their] communities” and the ban on single-use vapes was “an important show of intention”.

But she added: “Without further product and branding regulations this ban will be insufficient to address the popularity of vapes among teenagers.”