Single-use disposable vapes will be banned in England and Wales from summer next year, the Government has confirmed.
New legislation to prohibit the sales of single-use vapes will come into force on 1 June 2025, ministers said.
Subject to parliamentary approval, businesses will have until then to sell any remaining stock and prepare for the ban coming into force.
The proposal was announced by the previous government and is intended to limit children’s access to cheap vapes as well as reduce their environmental impact with estimates that five million of them are thrown away every week in the UK.
Disposable vapes are not rechargeable or refillable and are usually as everyday waste rather than recycled, which even when it is done is a difficult process. They also contribute to littering and lithium-ion batteries can be a fire risk.
In 2022, it was estimated that more than 40 tonnes of lithium from single-use vapes was discarded, equivalent to the amount used to power 5,000 electric vehicles.
The move is in addition to a package of measures under consideration to curb the rise of young people taking up vaping under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
It includes tightened rules about the sale of vaping products to under 18s and could include restrictions on ‘child friendly flavours and packaging’ as well as the way they are displayed in shops.
In a public consultation in February this year, 69% of people were in favour of restricting the sale and supply of single-use vapes.
Andrew Gwynne, minister for public health and prevention, said it was deeply worrying that a quarter of 11-15-year-olds used a vape last year with disposables being the ‘product of choice’.
‘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.
Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said single-use vapes were extremely wasteful and a ‘blight our towns and cities’.
‘This is the first step on the road to a circular economy, where we use resources for longer, reduce waste, accelerate the path to net-zero and create thousands of jobs across the country.’
The British Medical Association said the ban was ‘long overdue’ and said other measures need to be brought forward as soon as possible.
BMA board of science chair Professor David Strain and BMA public health medicine committee chair Dr Heather Grimbaldeston said: ‘Cheap disposable vapes are just one of the ways that these products are targeted at young people and a ban is long overdue.
‘We have been campaigning for an end to single-use vapes for some time, in order to slow down the growing youth vaping epidemic, and tackle the huge environmental burden they pose.’
But they said this move alone will not stop young people vaping.
‘The Government must waste no time in publishing its long-promised Tobacco and Vapes Bill to make urgent progress in other areas to get these addictive and potentially harmful products out of our young people’s hands and lungs.
‘This means a tougher stance on flavours, packaging, advertising and marketing, making them both less attractive and available to children and young people.’
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Pulse.
