Disposable vapes ban not likely to cut back attraction, says campaigner

The ban on single-use vapes is not likely to cut back the attraction of e-cigarettes to youngsters as a result of re-usable fashions are so very similar to disposables, the pinnacle of a marketing campaign team has warned.

Disposable vapes will likely be banned in the United Kingdom from Sunday with the intention to curb adolescence vaping charges and cut back digital waste.

But Hazel Cheeseman, leader govt of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), mentioned new reusable vapes are “very similar” to single-use vapes, which means it’s “unlikely [the ban] will have that much impact on the appeal of products”.

Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh mentioned the federal government used to be “taking action and banning single use vapes to reduce waste and environmental damage”.

The executive has in the past mentioned the ban would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children”.

1 / 4 of 11 to 15-year-olds have attempted vaping and just about 1 in 10 vape regularly, in keeping with NHS analysis from 2024.

Ms Cheeseman welcomed the regulation as a step against harder rules on vaping merchandise, however mentioned more potent motion will likely be had to make vaping much less interesting to younger individuals who have by no means smoked.

“Teenagers weren’t drawn to these products because you could throw them away,” she instructed 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 opposite numbers, are bought on the identical value, and provides shoppers little details about easy methods to fill up them, she mentioned.

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

The executive’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, a separate piece of regulation, will give ministers the facility to do so that “probably will reduce the appeal of these products to teenagers”, she mentioned.

These movements come with regulating the packaging and design of vape merchandise, in addition to limiting promoting.

Vaping is considerably much less destructive than smoking cigarettes, however it has now not been round for lengthy sufficient for its long-term dangers to be identified, in keeping with the NHS.

Because of this, it is just really useful as a technique to lend a hand grownup people who smoke hand over.

Despite her issues about its impact on youngster uptake, Ms Cheeseman mentioned the disposables ban used to be “important regulation” that can lend a hand ease the “big environmental burden” of vaping.

Almost 5 million single-use vapes have been thrown away every week in 2023, in keeping with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra).

As neatly as lithium-ion batteries, vapes include circuit forums, which will leak poisonous compounds if now not disposed of correctly.

A transfer to reusable vapes, which will also be recharged and refilled with e-liquid, would in idea permit customers to stay e-cigarettes for longer with out growing waste.

But some have raised issues over whether or not the ban may have this impact.

Kate Pike, lead officer for tobacco and vaping on the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, mentioned reusable vapes costing the similar 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 instructed BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

She added that there’s a “cost benefit” to reusing and recharging a vape, as an alternative of shopping for a brand new one, so she hopes fewer vapes will likely be thrown away. “But it is a potential danger,” she mentioned.

John Dunne, director normal of the United Kingdom Vaping Industry Association, mentioned the ban used to be “ill-thought out”.

Changing rules to permit vapes to have greater tank sizes would had been “more sensible”, he instructed the Today programme, as this may have larger costs from “around the £5 range” to as much as £10 or £15.

The ban on disposable vapes used to be first introduced underneath the former Conservative executive.

Labour showed it will stay the regulation in October ultimate 12 months, with Defra minister Creagh pronouncing disposable vapes have been “extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities”.

The executive has additionally in the past mentioned banning disposables would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people”.