Disposable vapes will be banned from June next year to protect young people’s health and curb ‘throwaway culture,’ the UK Government has announced.
The proposed ban - announced by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in January – was confirmed after the new Government found that vape use in young children had increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2023.
Andrew Gwynne, Public Health Minister, said that it was ‘deeply worrying’ that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds used vapes 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.’
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According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a leading charity working to end the harm caused by tobacco, about 20% of children aged between 11 and 17 had tried vaping as of 2023, up from 14% in. Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity said the ban was an ‘important show of intention,’ but cautioned that ‘without further product and branding regulations this ban will be insufficient to address the popularity of vapes among teenagers’.
In addition to an increase in uptake among the youth, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimated that almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown into general waste each week last year, a nearly four-fold increase on the year before. In 2022, vapes were discarded containing a total of more than 40 tonnes of lithium, enough to power 5,000 electric vehicles, it reported.
Mary Creagh, Defra environment minister, said: ‘Single-use vapes are extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities’ and added that the initiative was part of an effort to combat Britain’s ‘throwaway culture’.
John Dunne, the director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association, criticised the decision to proceed with the ban, saying that it would lead to an increase in illegal sales.
‘Bans are not the answer, as we’ve seen in other parts of the world, such as Australia, as they will only boost the black market, which will pose significant risks to young people and the environment. What’s needed is greater enforcement of current laws in place which make it a legal requirement for vape traders not to sell to children under the age of 18 and to comply with environmental legislation,’ he said.
The Government said it was working with the devolved nations to align the dates on which the ban comes into force. If Parliament approves the ban, businesses in England will have until June 1 2025 to sell any remaining stock they hold.