ASH: “Don’t use disposable vapes”
Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 14:30 Is ASH supporting a campaign to ban disposable vapes?
Disposable vapes are increasingly being found in rivers, harming animals and using up rare materials, a campaigner has warned. Environmentalist Tony Harwood from Maidstone has launched a petition calling on the government to ban the sale of disposable vapes because he claims they are destroying the environment.
According to ASH CEO Deborah Arnott:
“If you’re a smoker using vapes to help you quit, that’s great, just don’t use disposables. They are single use plastics which contain batteries – a double whammy as it makes them very hard to recycle. Disposables are an environmental nightmare as they are just being thrown in the rubbish and are ending up in landfill.”
Arnott’s concern for the effect of disposable vapes on the environment follows the publication in July of the annual YouGov youth survey for ASH which showed ‘current vaping among children 11-17 up from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022’.
Commenting on the survey Arnott said:
“The disposable vapes that have surged in popularity over the last year are brightly coloured pocket-sized products with sweet flavours and sweet names, and are widely available for under a fiver, no wonder they’re attractive to children.”
Furthermore, according to ASH:
Disposable e-cigarettes are now the most used product among current vapers, up more than 7-fold from 7% in 2020 and 8% in 2021, to 52% in 2022.
So, to be clear. For environmental reasons ASH is urging vapers not to use ‘the most used product among current vapers’, which is rather like asking smokers not to use cigarettes, the most used product among current smokers.
Failing that Arnott and co want restrictions on packaging, flavours and names. And after that?
Actually we know where this will go because the playbook is well established. It's just a matter of time.
Reader Comments (2)
If they can make the gullible public believe that biodegradable cigarette ends are killing trees, wildlife, sealife, and just about every living thing in the great outdoors, then they can make the same public believe that plastic vapes are an even bigger risk - which of course they are but only if disposed of irresponsibly.
As with cigarette ends, it is just a question of being responsible for your own litter. I don't much care if cig ends are biodegradable because the time they spend on the ground is unsightly, and using a pocket ashtray to take your litter home is just common sense - in the same way that taking a bag to take home all your litter from a picnic in the countryside or day at the beach makes sense. Leave no trace is good philosophy to help us all respect our environment.
What needs to be done instead of scaremongering on both cig ends and disposable vapes is to give good, helpful advice on how not to litter. Where for example, can vapers dispose safely of their vape stick? Is there a collection point like there is for batteries for example which can be found in every supermarket?
The advice for smokers to dispose of cig ends is really simple - get a pocket ashtray and take your litter home - but not one that the anti-smoker industry wants to promote for fear of not promoting smokers as the number one scumbags in society.
It looks like they want to push the idea that disposable vapes can't be got rid of either.
It has also just occurred to me that ASH have not mentioned anything about litter caused by disposal single use plastic lighters. Could it be because everyone uses them not just smokers or vapers and therefore there is nothing to gain from stigmatising groups of people who don't smoke or vape?