The sale of disposable vapes will be outlawed from June next year, the government has announced, giving retailers eight months to clear remaining stock.
Ministers said the move – which was first announced in January by the previous government but not put into force before the general election – aimed to protect children’s health and the environment.
From June, the only vaping products available for sale legally in the UK must be refillable and rechargeable, intended for repeat uses as opposed to disposable, single-use products.
New NHS data released last week show a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have tried vaping, with almost one in 10 using e-cigarettes regularly.
“It’s deeply worrying…and we know disposables are the product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today,” said Andrew Gwynne, minister for public health and prevention. “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.”
The format has long been criticised by environmental campaigners. Last year, Material Focus estimated that almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown away in general waste every week in the UK, almost four times as much as the previous year and the equivalent of eight being thrown away per second.
“Single-use vapes are extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities,” said circular economy minister Mary Creagh. “That is why we are banning single-use vapes as we end this nation’s throwaway culture.”
Single-use vapes are not rechargeable or refillable, and typically discarded as general waste in a bin or littered, rather than recycled. Even when they are sent to recycling facilities, they usually have to be disassembled by hand – a slow and labour-intensive process. The lithium-ion batteries within them also present a fire risk to waste industry workers, with more than 700 fires caused annually by the incorrect disposal of electricals with hidden batteries, such as vapes, Material Focus said.
“Disposable vapes are the last thing our children and the planet need,” said Libby Peake, head of resources at Green Alliance, “and for too long the market for them has been allowed to grow unchecked. Every single one wastes resources that are critical to a more sustainable economy – like lithium, needed for the batteries that power electric cars.
“When they’re littered, the nicotine, plastic and batteries they contain are all extremely harmful. Even when they’re put in a bin, their batteries can catch fire. The government is right to ban these harmful devices – it’s a welcome step in the journey towards an economy where waste is reduced by design,” Peake added.
The June ban date is later than had been initially proposed by the previous government, which planned to outlaw the devices in April next year.
“We welcome the government’s intention to provide businesses with enough time to prepare for the changes, including selling through existing product, working with suppliers to source alternative products and making structural changes to their displays in stores,” said ACS chief executive James Lowman. “This is still a challenging timetable for retailers and their supply chains, and we have developed comprehensive guidance on the ban, which will be published shortly to help businesses with the transition.”
The announcement was welcomed by UK vape product distributor Phoenix 2 Retail.
“It gives clarity to retailers and consumers concerning the way forward and allows us to plan properly for the transition away from single-use vapes,” said Chris Kelly, CEO.
“We have already begun that process, but what is now required from government and the industry is clear enforcement to ensure this doesn’t enhance the illicit market for single-use vapes. This would include moves designed to target manufacturers to ensure the products are not still being delivered into the country once the ban has come into effect.”
That Labour would carry Rishi Sunak’s proposed disposable ban was confirmed in the 2024 King’s Speech. It has also committed to introducing a tobacco and vapes bill, which is expected to ban vapes from being branded and advertised to appeal to children to “stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine”.
The government has also said it was “actively considering” the inclusion of a vape retailer licensing scheme in the bill.
While the vaping sector has been broadly supportive of most elements of the coming bill, it has strongly objected to a possible ban on flavours. Trade association the UKVIA said “having a ban on flavours could have a negative impact on those who are attempting to quit” citing research it commissioned by OnePoll that a third of vapers said a flavour ban “will lead them back to cigarettes”. Some 83% of vapers surveyed said flavours had helped them quit smoking.
Disposables have been booming over the last few years – in 2023 driving the category to more than double in value to £1.7bn. Volumes doubled too – an additional 155.2 million units had gone through tills.
The ban has prompted a flurry of regulation-dodging innovation in the category – with devices that feature charging ports and some consumer assembly. The resulting ‘big puff’ devices last longer than any disposable and can contain up to six times as much nicotine liquid.
The number of adults vaping in England who have never regularly smoked has rocketed since 2021, when the availability of disposable devices boomed, according to a study by UCL researchers earlier this month. However, despite the increase in vaping among people without a smoking history, the UCL researchers found that, among the adult population in England overall, the rise in vaping had “levelled off” since early 2023.
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