Words by Rach Coleman. Photo by Pete Scullion
Today Labour have announced that the ban on disposable vapes will come into force in England on June 1st 2025. Big cheers in the TFT virtual office!
In the State of Our Trails Report 2023, we outlined a ban on disposable vapes as a crucial policy needed to create a Trash Free Future. Thanks to our volunteers, we've been able to map the sharp rise in the numbers appearing in our wild places. In 2020, no Trash Count submissions from our volunteers found disposable vapes. By 2021, this had risen to 50%.
Last year, every single Trash Survey completed by a TFT volunteer included the removal of disposable vapes. In Bristol last month we found 25 in a single afternoon. Worse still, the most prominent trail type we find disposable vapes in is parks and playgrounds, spaces used by significant numbers of children and young people.
The data we collect, thanks to volunteer Citizen Scientists working on their own trails, cannot be denied. In a short 4 years our trails have been flooded by these small single-use plastic objects. They sell in their millions, are used by children as young as 10 and 11, and so many end up in our wild places. There are very few things we are hard and fast on here at TFT, but how pointless and damaging disposable vapes are is one of them. We need them gone, and we need it done as soon as possible.
The Ban, initially tabled by the previous Government in January this year, was left behind during the General Election. We've been working behind the scenes to campaign for this ban, and today is the day! Labour have shown a continued commitment to taking action, announcing the Ban will come into full force on June 1st 2025.
While we're disappointed that the Ban has been set for June 1st to allow the sale of remaining stock - ie. allowing further vapes to escape into our environment - we're pleased to see that the new Government recognise how crucial this policy is, and the need for urgency in bringing it into force.
We'll be watching closely to see how the legislation unfolds and sharing updates with our community. What do you think about the disposable vapes ban? Let us know on our social media.
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