Date confirmed for disposable vapes ban as businesses given deadline
by Catherine Addison-Swan, Sam Hall, PA · ChronicleLiveThe Government has confirmed that disposable vapes will be banned from sale by next summer in a bid to put an end to "throwaway culture" in the UK.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed on Wednesday, October 23 that the new legislation has been laid out in Parliament to ban the sale of single-use vapes from June 1, 2025. The department said that businesses will have until this deadline "to sell any remaining stock they hold and prepare for the ban coming into force".
According to Defra, vape usage in England had soared by more than 400% between 2012 and 2023, with 9.1% of the British public now buying and using the products. It has been estimated that almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown away in general waste every week in the UK last year - almost four times as much as the previous year.
Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: "It's deeply worrying that a quarter of 11-15-year-olds used a vape last year and we know disposables are the product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today. Banning disposable vapes will not only protect the environment, but importantly reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people."
He added: "The Government will also introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill – the biggest public health intervention in a generation – which will protect young people from becoming hooked on nicotine and pave the way for a smoke-free UK."
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was published under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a bid to create "the very first smoke-free generation" by increasing the legal smoking age by one year, every year - meaning children turning 15 this year or younger can never legally be sold tobacco. On Monday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting promised to toughen up smoking laws with a "more ambitious" bill than the Conservatives.
The minister told reporters at an east London health facility on Monday: "We will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill before Christmas." The bill also included measures to impose restrictions on the sale and marketing of vapes to children.
Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said single-use vapes were "extremely wasteful and blight our towns and cities". She added: "That is why we are banning single use vapes as we end this nation's throwaway culture.
"This is the first step on the road to a circular economy, where we use resources for longer, reduce waste, accelerate the path to net-zero and create thousands of jobs across the country."
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