The sale and supply of single-use vapes will be banned by next summer, the government has announced.
Ministers say the move is designed to protect children’s health and prevent environmental damage,with devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland expected to announce similar bans in the coming weeks.
Businesses will be given a deadline to ‘sell any remaining stock they hold and prepare for the ban coming into force’, which is expected to be on June 1, 2025.
A ban was previously announced by the Conservative government in January but was not enacted until after the general election.
Disposable vapes are considered extremely bad for the environment, being difficult to recycle and full of harmful waste such as lithium, battery acid and mercury.
Batteries thrown into bins cause hundreds of fires at waste processing centres and the back of refuse trucks every year, and it is estimated around 40 tonnes of lithium has been discarded in the past 12 months- enough to power 5,000 electric vehicles.
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown away every week last year.
Vape use in the UK is estimated to have grown by 400% between 2012 and 2023, and around 9.1% of the population is now believed to buy and use them.
Defra’s circular economy minister, Mary Creagh, said disposable vapes 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.
‘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.’
Health minister Andrew Gwynne said: ‘It’s deeply worrying that a quarter of 11-15-year-olds used a vape last year and we know disposables are the product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today.
‘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.’
Around 48% of of children caught vaping are less than eleven years old, research has found.
It is already illegal to sell disposable vapes to anyone under 18, but the smaller, more colourful packaging on many of them is seen as a ‘key driver behind the alarming rise in youth vaping’, the previous government said.
Although vaping is considerably less harmful than smoking cigarettes, it has not been around long enough for its long-term effects to be studied, according to the NHS.
Nor should its addictive qualities be downplayed. Speaking about the upcoming ban on Good Morning Britain, ITV presenter Kate Garraway admitted becoming ‘instantly addicted’ to vaping again after giving it during pregnancy.
She told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley today: ‘The last thing I want to do is anyway in sanction [vaping], because I don’t now.
‘I started vaping at age 12- I really regret the decision’
Holly Bowman, a 17-year-old schoolgirl from Ireland, began vaping when she was just 12 and ‘really regrets’ that decision.
When I started vaping it was no big deal,’ she said.
‘It was just something that everyone else did and it made me feel grown up. At no point did I think it was going to be a long-term thing.
‘Little did I know I would become addicted so quickly. When you’re 12 you don’t even know what addiction is really.
‘Five years later I still can’t kick the habit. Both the cost and health implications aren’t sustainable for me. It’s a decision I really regret.’
Holly’s Mum, Nicky Bowman, sits on the board of management at an Irish school and says vaping is a challenge she has deal with every day.
‘It’s a huge problem,’ she said.
‘We’ve had to increase CCTV at the school because there were hidden corners where kids would vape in between lessons. We had to introduce new toilet rules because kids as young as eleven are vaping.
‘But my experience was, after Billy was born, I did smoke before and I was craving going back to smoking [but] didn’t want to.’
But after stumbling upon some vapes which were being used on set as ‘props’, she said her addiction was instantly reignited.
‘I think we had some props in here or something ridiculous, and I picked it up and I was instantly addicted, like beyond anything!
‘I couldn’t believe it and it made me realise how, particularly those disposable ones, are so addictive.’
She added: ‘They’re so easy to do, and they deliver such a hit, so I don’t know that it’s a solution to ban the disposable ones, but they’re everywhere.’
Mum Crystal Baynam spoke to Metro about her dismay upon discovering her 15 year old daughter had started vaping at school.
‘Katie, just 15, had been caught using a vape, and I was completely stunned.
‘This was despite the fact that a few weeks earlier I had found a disposable vape – pink lemonade flavour – in her room, which Katie had explained away, claiming it belonged to one of her friends.
‘When I received the message about Katie’s detention, I was also told that they could throw the vape or give it back to her.
‘It shocked me that handing kids back a vape was even an option, and without a moment’s hesitation, I told them to throw it away.’
She added: ‘Katie has confessed that she loves some of the bright colours on the packaging, which is why I agree with the government’s conclusion these products are aimed at children.
‘The fact that these vapes are cheaper and disposable too, makes them easier for teens to afford and hide from their parents. I certainly didn’t suspect anything until that call from the school.
‘Now, I can’t get my daughter to quit.’
Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said disposable vapes had become the ‘product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today’ and banning them would ‘reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the proposal would be put to parliament before the end of the year.
Libby Peake, head of resources at Green Alliance, said: ‘Disposable vapes are the last thing our children and the planet need, and for too long the market for them has been allowed to grow unchecked.’
In January, the UK Vaping Industry Association responded to the proposal by saying vapes had helped ‘millions of adults quit and stay off cigarettes’ and that the plan would put children at risk by ‘turbocharging the black market’.
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