Are Vapes Being Banned in the UK?
The UK vape industry is currently facing legislation changes, with disposable vapes being banned on top of proposed flavour restrictions and a possible levy on vape products. Let’s take a look at what this all means for UK vapers.
It’s a tough time for the UK vape industry with the ever-growing scrutiny on youth usage and electrical waste from disposable vapes.
Last year, the government held an open consultation with the public on a number of topics pertaining to vaping. Anyone could submit their responses to questions about disposable vapes, vape flavours, plain packaging, taxation, and regulation of point-of-sale displays.
At the end of January, the prime minister announced a ban on disposable vapes, which will come into effect in either late 2024 or early 2025. But the UK government isn’t stopping there.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the other proposed measures and what they’ll mean for UK vapers if they come to fruition.
Are Disposable Vapes Being Banned?
Yes, the UK government has confirmed a full-scale ban on disposable vapes.
This will come into effect at the end of the year or the beginning of 2025.
Disposable vapes are being banned for two reasons: first, they’re the #1 choice among under-18s who vape. Second, they create an awful lot of waste that the UK’s infrastructure simply isn’t equipped to handle.
Government ministers have their eyes set on disposables primarily due to youth usage. In 2023, the ASH Youth Vaping Survey found that 69% of 11-17 year olds who vaped used a single-use (disposable) device.
Furthermore, research from Material Focus in September showed that in a single year, the number of single-use disposable vapes being sent to landfill had quadrupled to over 5 million per week. This equates to over 5,000 electric vehicle batteries worth of lithium being thrown away each year.
Meanwhile, the industry has a conundrum on its hands. Disposable vapes are arguably responsible, at least in part, for the vast number of smokers who have been able to make the switch from smoking, since vaping a disposable takes even fewer steps than lighting a cigarette. It’s cheaper, easier, and requires absolutely zero set-up or prior knowledge to operate.
Disposable vapes have been a boon for older, less tech-savvy smokers who wouldn’t have been able to navigate a refillable starter vape kit at the outset of their vaping journey. They’re also an accessible option for vapers with impairments, including many people over the age of 60 with arthritis or visual impairments.
There’s a saying in the world of tech: move fast and break things. The trouble with disposable vapes is that they moved too quickly for their own good; they entered the market and quickly became the most mainstream vaping product before the world’s infrastructure could adapt. Millions of disposables are being bought and tossed with perfectly good batteries inside.
And with very little in the way of recycling guidance for consumers and little financial support for the organisation tasked with policing illicit sales (Trading Standards), the UK has hit a breaking point.
Disposable vapes being banned is bad news for vapers, but even if you’re not a regular disposable user, you’re not in the clear. The government has its eyes set on your vapes, too.
Are Vape Flavours Being Banned?
No, flavours will be regulated to prevent them appealing to youths. This was introduced in the recently passed Tobacco and Vapes Bill of 2024.
An ASH survey on child vaping indicates that 60% of young vapers are choosing fruit-flavoured e-cigarettes, while another 25% prefer flavours associated with sweets or soft drinks.
These findings are currently under review in an upcoming consultation, providing an opportunity for public input before final decisions are made. Changes are also expected in how vapes are marketed.
Additionally, the display of vapes at easily accessible locations within retail stores will soon be restricted, responding to current practices that allow vapes to be displayed freely.
Moreover, the use of brightly coloured boxes and cartoon imagery on packaging will be discontinued in favour of standardized packaging.
Are Vapes Being Taxed?
This is another facet from the consultation that we will likely see come to fruition this year: an added levy on vaping products. The government is set to announce this at the upcoming Budget.
Government ministers fear that the relatively low cost of vapes is making it more accessible to children, disregarding the fact that their own imposed volume limits on nicotine E-Liquids and disposable vapes are what makes vaping so cheap in the first place.
A 2ml disposable vape retails for a fiver, but instead of making disposable vapes larger and therefore more expensive and less accessible to young people, the government wants to impose a levy on vape products similar to tobacco.
The government has said that they recognise the role that vaping plays for adult smokers and that vaping still needs to be an attractive alternative, so the idea now is to raise taxes on tobacco while adding a levy to vaping products to ensure that tobacco is still the more expensive option.
They plan to do this by imposing tax rates based on the amount of nicotine in a given E-Liquid. So, essentially, a 20mg nic salt will cost more than a 3mg freebase E-Liquid.
This is very unwelcome news for the vape industry. One of the main allures of vaping for smokers is that it’s exponentially less expensive than smoking—and if we take away that savings, even marginally, we’re going to lessen that appeal.
Plus, an added tax—alongside the proposed plain packaging and limits on point-of-sale display—will only solidify the already prolific idea that vaping is just as bad as smoking when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
What Can Vapers Do?
There’s only one thing to do now if you’re a UK vaper: make your voice heard. Sign a petition. Write to your MP. Make some noise.
It’s in the government’s hands now.
We sorely hope the UK government will continue the discussion on the best way to implement these measures. In the meantime, you can keep up with UK vaping news here at the Vapour Hut.
