Is the disposable vapes ban going to make any difference in the UK?
In 2021, vapes went from a small-scale smoking alternative to dominate the UK’s nicotine market.
Now, about half of the vape market is set to become illegal when the government’s disposable vape ban comes into force on Sunday.
It’s part of the government’s plan to create a “smoke-free” generation, which will see disposable vapes banned, fines for underaged vape sales upped, and the minimum smoking age gradually increased.
But some industry experts have warned the unintended consequences of the disposable vape ban could cause significant harm, with limited impact on the creation of a smoke-free generation.
It’s worth noting that concerns about the disposable vape ban have come mainly from the vape industry itself, with other industry bodies more supportive of the measure – many of the letter’s concerns are that the ban doesn’t go far enough and that there aren’t enough ‘nudges’ for Brits to stop smoking entirely.
Arguments against the ban tend to centre around the risk of black-market trading, vape fires from hoarding, and encouragement for people to turn back to cigarettes or hoard disposables.
Mike Salem, UK Country Associate for the Consumer Choice Center (CCC) said that the policy “risks fueling black-market activity”, which is “far harder to regulate and more detrimental to public health”.
And nearly a quarter of current vapers say they would purchase non-compliant or illicit vaping products to cut down on costs, according Haypp.
A great thing for the environment
Mladen Barbaric, founder of Nosaint, said the disposable ban is a “great thing as an industry”. He argues that the environmental impact alone will be huge – in the UK, about 8.2m disposable vapes are thrown away each week, many of which are thrown in bins instead of being properly recycled.
Opinium research has called disposable vapes an “environmental nightmare”, as all types of vape contain lithium-ion batteries which are dangerous if damaged (in a lorry, bin, or recycling centre, for example).
In its messaging around the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, the government has said there are “serious environmental concerns” about vapes.
Over 5 million disposable vapes are either littered or thrown away in general waste every week, a figure which has quadrupled in the last year, it said.
But cracks are already showing in the positive environmental effects: Big players are already “circumventing” the ban, Barbaric said.
“Most players have divided the liquid section and the battery section, but they still ship them together,” Barbaric said.
One or two-charge vapes are proliferating, many of which look very similar to the original disposable product.
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Vapes are still targeted to kids
A second key issue is child usage of vapes: disposable vapes are the vape of choice for kids, with 69 per cent of current vapers aged 11 to 17 in Great Britain using disposable vapes.
This figure is up from 7.7 per cent in 2021, according to government statistics.
“There’s a lot of youth use… I don’t think disposable ban addresses this,” Barbaric said. “If we think about the youth use, it’s not necessarily the convenience or how cheap it is… we [need to] offer smokers an alternative that’s attractive.”
So long as vapes continue to be marketed to young people – with names like blue razz and coca-cola – the problem of youth usage will continue, Barbaric said.
John Patterson, president of IKE Tech, said that removing disposables “won’t eliminate youth access, it just shifts the problem.”
The “real challenge” is not just what’s on the shelves, but what “happens beyond the shop doors,” like social sharing and the rise of the illicit market, he said.
‘The industry has to make changes’
Even more plans are in the works to regulate the smoking and vapes market in the UK.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill includes powers to further manage the sector, beyond the June 1 ban. There has even been talk of a ban on flavoured e-liquids.
There was a petition against the idea earlier this year, arguing that the ban would “undermine efforts to help smokers quit”.
The government responded that “further consultation will occur before introduction of any specific restrictions on vape flavours… to avoid unintended consequences on smoking rates, any restrictions will be carefully considered.”
To Barbaric, the idea of the government being able to successfully pivot the vapes market away from kids – and make it environmentally friendly, while continuing to leave the product as a tool to help smokers quit – is a pipe dream.
“The industry has to make changes, and the industry has to bring to the table tools to solve these problems… [The government] can’t solve it without the industry,” he said.
“Regulators can’t innovate on… how to control the environment for kids. They’re not going to create products that are specifically targeted at adults,” he said.
“Until [government works more with companies] you’re always going to have this opposing view where the government is trying to do the right stuff and the industry is trying to circumvent and find loopholes to continue to do the line of less resistance.”