Keep Britain Tidy welcomes government ban on sale of disposable single-use vapes

Keep Britain Tidy today welcomed the government’s announcement of a ban on the sale of disposable single-use vapes, which pose a hazard to our environment and wildlife.

It’s estimated 260 million disposable vapes – also known as e-cigarettes - are discarded every year in the UK, causing plastic and chemical pollution and fires, as well as posing risks to the people who have to deal with them, including volunteers and council staff.

In 2023, Keep Britain Tidy volunteers reported removing more than 19,500 vapes and nearly 29,000 items of vape packaging from the environment – and this is the tip of the iceberg.

Although disposable vapes should be recycled, many are carelessly discarded, with the harmful chemicals like battery acid, lithium and nicotine adding to the pollution crisis on land and in our waterways.

The single-use items can last in our environment for many years and their unstable lithium batteries can cause wildfires or blazes in bin lorries and recycling centres.

In addition, the RSPCA reports that animals including birds, fish and marine mammals mistake vapes for food and can be injured or die as a result. 

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “The announcement of a ban on disposable vapes is great news for the environment.

“Our surveys show that disposable vape litter has doubled in the past two years alone and last year more than 16% of the sites we surveyed were blighted by these single-use items, posing a significant risk to wildlife and polluting our streets, parks and beaches.

“An estimated 260 million are thrown away in this country every year, wasting precious scarce resources, including lithium.”