Disposable vapes ban unlikely to reduce appeal, says campaigner

The ban on single-use vapes is unlikely to reduce the appeal of e-cigarettes to teenagers because re-usable models are so similar to disposables, the head of a campaign group has warned.

Disposable vapes will be banned in the UK from Sunday in an effort to curb youth vaping rates and reduce electronic waste.

But Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said new reusable vapes are “very similar” to single-use vapes, meaning it is “unlikely [the ban] will have that much impact on the appeal of products”.

Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said the government was “taking action and banning single use vapes to reduce waste and environmental damage”.

The government has previously said the ban would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children”.

A quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds have tried vaping and nearly 1 in 10 vape often, according to NHS research from 2024.

Ms Cheeseman welcomed the legislation as a step towards tougher regulations on vaping products, but said stronger action will be needed to make vaping less appealing to young people who have never smoked.

“Teenagers weren’t drawn to these products because you could throw them away,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“They were drawn to them because they were brightly coloured, because they were cheap, and they were really, really available. All of those things will still be true on Sunday.”

Some reusable vapes have “identical” packaging to their single-use counterparts, are sold at the same price, and give customers little information about how to refill them, she said.

“The manufacturers are not making it easy for people to change their behaviour.”

The government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, a separate piece of legislation, will give ministers the power to take action that “probably will reduce the appeal of these products to teenagers”, she said.

These actions include regulating the packaging and design of vape products, as well as restricting advertising.

Vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking cigarettes, but it has not been around for long enough for its long-term risks to be known, according to the NHS.

Because of this, it is only recommended as a method to help adult smokers quit.

Despite her concerns about its effect on teen uptake, Ms Cheeseman said the disposables ban was “important regulation” that will help ease the “big environmental burden” of vaping.

Almost five million single-use vapes were thrown away each week in 2023, according to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra).

As well as lithium-ion batteries, vapes contain circuit boards, which can leak toxic compounds if not disposed of properly.

A switch to reusable vapes, which can be recharged and refilled with e-liquid, would in theory allow users to keep e-cigarettes for longer without creating waste.

But some have raised concerns over whether the ban will have this effect.

Kate Pike, lead officer for tobacco and vaping at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said reusable vapes costing the same as disposables “is a worry”.

“It’s a real worry that people will continue to use them as single-use disposable and therefore it won’t help limit the damage to the environment,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

She added that there is a “cost benefit” to reusing and recharging a vape, instead of buying a new one, so she hopes fewer vapes will be thrown away. “But it is a potential danger,” she said.

John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said the ban was “ill-thought out”.

Changing regulations to allow vapes to have larger tank sizes would have been “more sensible”, he told the Today programme, as this would have increased prices from “around the £5 range” to up to £10 or £15.

The ban on disposable vapes was first announced under the previous Conservative government.

Labour confirmed it would keep the legislation in October last year, with Defra minister Creagh saying disposable vapes were “extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities”.

The government has also previously said banning disposables would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people”.