Disposable vapes to be banned in England

Single-use vapes, which contain lithium, will be banned in England from 1 June 2025.

Almost five million single-use vapes were littered or thrown away in general waste every week in the UK last year, according to the UK Government.

That is nearly four times as much as the previous year and the equivalent of eight thrown away every second.

In 2022, more than 40t of lithium from single-use vapes was discarded, the same as used to power 5,000 electric vehicles.

In fact, IOM3 contributed to the National Engineering Policy Centre’s recent report on critical materials, which called for the government to commit to the banning of single-use vapes. This was identified as a policy that would improve UK critical-material resilience.

Single-use vapes are not rechargeable or refillable, says government, and typically discarded as general waste or littered, instead of being recycled.

Even if they are put into recycling, facilities have to disassemble them by hand and lithium-ion batteries present a fire-risk to industry workers.

Vape usage in England grew by more than 400% between 2012 and 2023, with 9.1% of the British public now buying and using these products.

Long-term health impacts are unknown, with the nicotine within highly addictive, and withdrawal sometimes causing anxiety, concentration problems and headaches.

The public is said to be in favour of restricting the sale and supply of single-use vapes, with 69% of consultation respondents supporting the proposals in February 2024.