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.