MPs back plan to rid nation of ‘toy-like’ vapes which are ‘menace on streets’

A minister has vowed to rid England of “toy-like” disposable vapes which have become “a menace on our streets”.

MPs backed plans to ban some vape products from June next year, which environment minister Mary Creagh warned have been linked to tyre explosions, chemicals in rivers and possibly a rise in young people using nicotine products.

Conservative shadow environment minister Dr Neil Hudson said he supported The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024 and added he had recently wrestled a discarded melon flavour disposable vape from his dog Poppy’s mouth.

“Every person in this country has the right to walk down their street without stumbling on a single-use vape that has been tossed onto the pavement,” Ms Creagh said at the despatch box.

“They have the right to take their children to the park without their child picking up a shiny vape that’s been cast aside in the playground.

“No driver should fear that their car tyre will explode by driving over a single-use vape in the road yet I was sent recently a picture of just such a tyre explosion.

“What started out as a useful means to stop adults smoking has become a menace on our streets.”

The draft regulation proposes an offence for anyone who supplies or offers to supply a vape product which is not refillable or rechargeable.

Vapes outside of that description “will continue to be sold as a valuable aid to help adults stop smoking, but the sort-of almost toy-like vapes that you find littered in every street… are the real problem”.

Bright colours and appealing flavours like bubblegum, cherry ice (are) luring our young people into a nicotine addiction and the risk of illicit substances

Ms Creagh told MPs five million vapes are thrown away each week – or eight every second – which she described as “a constant wave of waste”.

She said: “When they are littered, they introduce plastics, nicotine salts, copper, cadmium, lead and lithium ion batteries into our environment.

“This harms our wildlife, our soils, our rivers and our streams.”

Ms Creagh pointed to research from the campaign group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), which found “the rise in single-use vapes has happened concurrently with an increase in young people vaping”.

Dr Hudson told the Commons: “We know that single-use vapes pose a range of risks to our environment, to animals both domestic and wild and even people, especially our young folk.”

He added: “In fact not long ago, when I was walking my young dog Poppy, she one day disappeared into the undergrowth and came out with a brightly-coloured melon-flavoured disposable vape in her mouth.

“Now fortunately I was able to get the vape out of her mouth quickly but I absolutely shudder to think what could have happened if Poppy had chewed it, crunched it and indeed swallowed it, containing a battery, toxic chemicals and shattered plastic.”

Dr Hudson said vapes were responsible for the “leaking of plastics and toxic chemicals into our natural environment and into our precious waterways”.

He also warned that “bright colours and appealing flavours like bubblegum, cherry ice (are) luring our young people into a nicotine addiction and the risk of illicit substances”.

He urged the minister to set out how the Government will make sure vapes stocked in shops come June 2025 are “collected and disposed of in the appropriate manner and that the Government will produce a plan to ensure this moving forward”.

At the conclusion of the debate, Ms Creagh said: “We have seen more reusable products coming on to the market in anticipation of this ban, and we will promote the ban to improve awareness both for the public and retailers, so we encourage shops to stop purchasing single-use vapes and to run down their current stock.

“We are seeing more vape bins in supermarkets, high street retailers, and garages.”