Disposable vapes to be banned in England from June
The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in England and Wales from June next year, the government has confirmed.
Ministers in England said the move, first announced in January by the previous government but not enacted before the general election, is intended to prevent environmental damage and protect children's health, BBC News reported.
The government said it had worked closely with the devolved nations on introducing the ban and they would "align coming into force dates", with Wales already confirming it will follow suit.
Vaping industry leaders have warned the move could fuel a rise in illegal sales of the products.
Disposable vapes are difficult to recycle and typically end up landfill, where their batteries can leak harmful waste like battery acid, lithium, and mercury into the environment, the government said.
Batteries thrown into household waste also cause hundreds of fires in bin lorries and waste-processing centres every year.
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates 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 said.
It is already illegal to sell any vape to anyone under 18, but disposable vapes - often sold in smaller, more colourful packaging than refillable ones - are a "key driver behind the alarming rise in youth vaping", the previous government said when it first set out its plan.
The number of people who vape without ever having smoked has also increased considerably over recent years, driven mostly by young adults.
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