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BBC Scotland’s setting correspondent
BBCThere aren’t repeatedly when a unmarried social media submit can cause a snowball impact which ends up in an important alternate within the legislation.
But social media influencer Laura Young’s movements did precisely that once she began noticing a muddle drawback whilst strolling her canine in Dundee.
‘Less waste Laura’ – as she calls herself on-line – stated she was once “sick of litter picking” disposable vapes and sought after to marketing campaign towards them.
Three years on and her marketing campaign has resulted in a UK-wide ban now getting into drive.
Laura realised her message had struck a chord when a TikTok video she created was once considered 10.5 million instances.
It resulted in a distinguished newspaper marketing campaign after which calls from govt officers soliciting for conferences with ministers.
She informed BBC Scotland News: “If you look up disposable vapes, (mine) is the first (tweet) that comes up.
“Within 5 weeks it had made the headlines and naturally everybody was once appearing the place those vapes have been.”
The year after Laura first raised the issue, the Scottish government commissioned an urgent report into the impact of single use vapes on the environment and on young people.
It revealed that 2.7 million vapes had been littered on Scotland’s streets in a single year – about 10%t of the total consumed.
The report also found that 22% of all under-18s – about 78,000 people – were using vapes.
But it was the environmental impact which concerned Laura the most.
She said: “They start to fall aside. They get damaged, they get broken and the steel can pop tyres so it is a truly giant drawback.”
In the same year that Laura first launched her campaign, it emerged that a fire which destroyed a recycling facility in Aberdeen had “perhaps” been caused by a discarded vape.
The devices contain lithium-ion batteries which, when damaged, can spontaneously combust.
The blaze took just 10 seconds to take hold and the entire facility has had to be rebuilt.
The Scottish ban was first proposed in February 2024 and was due to be introduced last April.
The UK and Welsh governments then confirmed they would follow suit and the Scottish ban was delayed by two months to bring them all into line.
Retailers have been increasingly providing recycling bins in shops so the devices can be disposed of properly.
But Laura says she’s probably collected thousands of littered vapes over the last few years.
She adds: “It’s was once improbable to understand that all over the marketing campaign we have been truly increase momentum. We had a variety of councils reinforce a ban, we had the Scottish govt hanging out stories after which, in fact, we had the dedication to a ban.
Laura says she’s extremely proud of what is been completed however provides that the campaigning has additionally raised the problem of different disposable applied sciences and the way harmful this is for the surroundings.
She’s now not certain what marketing campaign she may get started subsequent however admits that she’s gained an excessively lengthy checklist of tips from friends and family.
