Should Disposable Vapes be Banned in the UK?

Techbuyer along with environmentally aware organisations such as the Green Alliance, the RSPCA, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and the Environmental Investigation Agency, among others, recently signed a letter sent to Environment Secretary Therese Coffey and Health Secretary Steve Barclay calling for disposable vapes to be banned. 

If you’re wondering why – read on.  

Vape Disposal – The Shocking Truth 

It may come as a surprise but disposable vapes, touted as an aid to stopping smoking, have become a significant environmental health hazard and the statistics are truly shocking. For instance, Material Focus research proves that at least 1.3 million disposable vapes, containing a mix of single-use plastic, lithium-ion batteries and nicotine, are thrown away in the UK every week – the equivalent of two vapes per second. That’s enough to cover 22 football pitches.  

So, how bad are disposable vapes? Well, regarding the batteries alone, each one contains on average 0.15g of lithium and so with 1.3 million being discarded each week, on an annual basis that’s the same amount of lithium used in 1,200 electric cars or vans. “Lithium is a critical material for our green transition and is simply going to waste in these devices,” the letter states. 

Meanwhile, the discarded plastic, metals and nicotine that disposable vapes also contain is polluting fragile ecosystems such as marine environments and endangering wildlife wherever they are thrown away. As the MCS’s director of programmes Chris Tuckett said: “Our beach clean volunteers have started to see single-use vapes littered on our beaches around the UK. These products ... pose a threat to marine life when littered. We fully support a ban on single-use vapes.” 

Disposable Vapes and the E-Waste Mountain 

As part of our commitment to help build a sustainable future with circular economy at its heart, Techbuyer supports efforts to reduce electronic waste in all forms and these throwaway devices only add to the growing mountain of e-waste. According to the WEEE Forum, last year an estimated 57.4 million tonnes of e-waste was produced globally, up from 53.6 million tonnes in 2020. If disposable vapes were banned they would not add to this problem and their environmental damage would be avoided. If responsibly recycled, they could help circular economy development for a sustainable future and encourage a move away from the current ‘take-make-waste' approach to many consumer goods. 

As Libby Peake, head of resource policy at Green Alliance, said: “We need to be moving towards durable and reusable products designed sustainably, not inventing new ways to cause harm to the wildlife and wasting valuable resources.”  

However, getting a ban on disposable vapes could meet official resistance. As the environmentally focused media group edie points out, the letter pre-empts the fact that Ministers may try to justify the sale of disposable vapes by citing the Government’s vision of achieving a smoke-free generation by 2030.    

In response, Green Alliance argues that as reusable vapes are easily available, taking disposable vapes off the market would not adversely affect public health efforts to help people quit smoking or the Government’s commitment to achieve a smoke-free generation by 2030.   

Are Disposable Vapes Safe to use?  

Marketed as cool and trendy accessories, it might be thought that disposable vapes do little or no physical harm compared to ‘real’ cigarettes. But are disposable vapes safe for use? The simple answer is ‘no’; alongside the environmental damage, disposable and reusable vapes also pose a serious human health threat, particularly to young people, as the letter to the Government illustrates.  

The letter cites previous research by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) that found a seven-fold rise in the proportion of 11 to 17-year-olds in the UK using disposable vapes since 2021. This year, ASH found, 7% of those in that age group regularly use vapes and 52% smoke a disposable vape.   

Virtually all disposable vapes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive, and for young people vaping can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  

As Ms Peake argued: “Ministers must act swiftly to ban disposable vapes to protect young people and our environment from this new and entirely avoidable threat.”   

In conclusion, there is very little to warrant the continued sale of disposable vapes; they are environmentally damaging, a threat to wildlife and human health, and they are adding to the e-waste mountain while undermining efforts to develop a sustainable future with a circular economy.   

That is why Techbuyer has joined 17 other respected organisations in calling on the UK Government to do the right thing: ban disposable vapes now.  

At Techbuyer we work to reduce the impact of e-waste on our planet. By offering high-quality refurbished technology, responsible and secure IT disposal and IT lifespan expansion services, we help to reduce the quantity of e-waste ending up in landfill.  

Find out more about our sustainable IT solutions here.