England's disposable vape ban: An inadequate solution to youth vaping with potential unintended consequences

Abstract

Since modern disposable (single-use) vapes entered the market in around 2020, there has been a rapid increase in vaping (e-cigarette use) among young people in many jurisdictions, such as England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia [1-3]. In Great Britain, the percentage of young people (11–17 years) that vape at least once a week near-tripled from 2019 (1.5%) to 2024 (4.2%) [4], with many of those who vape having never regularly smoked cigarettes [5]. Disposable vapes are the leading type of vape used by young people [6], and since their rise in popularity, the percentage of young people who regularly inhale nicotine has also risen for the first time since the mid-20th century [7]. Disposables have many features that are attractive to youth, including cheap prices, brightly colored packaging and widespread marketing and availability in high street shops [8, 9].

Although action to reduce youth vaping is urgently needed, vapes—including disposables—are also widely and effectively used by adults to help them stop and reduce harm from smoking cigarettes [10, 11], which are uniquely lethal [12]. Therefore, regulation must be balanced.

The disposable vape ban will be implemented on 1 June 2025 in England and Wales. Legislation will be under the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), introduced on the grounds that a ban will protect the environment and reduce appeal to children [13]. A wider package of policies was subsequently announced under The Tobacco and Vapes Bill 2024 on 5 November 2024; however, the specifics of many of these policies are vague [14]. Although the disposable vape ban is well-intentioned and might potentially be positive from an environmental perspective, it is unlikely to substantially reduce youth vaping.

Since public discussion of banning disposable vapes began, manufacturers have created reusable ‘disposable-like’ analogues to their most popular disposable vape devices (Figure 1), and it is possible that people will dispose of these once the e-liquid or battery runs out. Like disposables, these new designs are cheap, easy to operate, widely available and advertised at the point-of-sale and use the same high-strength nicotine–salts-based vape liquid. These factors all increase appeal to youth [8, 9, 15]. Therefore, without additional regulation, young people who would have otherwise used disposable vapes are likely to simply switch to using their reusable, ‘disposable-like’ analogues.

A package of evidence-based policies is needed to reduce youth vaping. We have decades of research on policy options to reduce the appeal and accessibility of nicotine and tobacco products, such as restricting packaging and marketing, banning advertisements at the point-of-sale, better enforcement of age-of-sale laws and taxation [16]. Policy following these frameworks could greatly reduce the appeal of vaping to youth while keeping it accessible to adults who smoke. The newly announced Tobacco and Vapes Bill would be well placed to introduce these.

Nonetheless, there are environmental grounds for the ban. Disposable vapes contain environmentally toxic lithium-ion batteries, which could be recharged or recycled, but are usually thrown away. Material Focus estimates that 260-million batteries from vapes were wasted last year in the United Kingdom (UK), causing hundreds of fires in bin lorries and waste sites [17]. As mentioned above, the industry has already introduced new ‘disposable-like’ products, so the extent that this ban will prevent environment harm will depend on how people who use dispoable vapes respond to it. The reduction in waste will be substantial if many switch to, and actually reuse, these ‘disposable-like’ products, but any impact will be reduced if people continue to discard their vapes after the battery or e-liquid runs out.

There may be other unintended consequences to consider when weighing the benefits of a disposable vape ban against other regulatory policies, some of which have been discussed previously in Addiction [18]. First, it is important to consider what people who use disposable vapes will do after the ban. The ban would affect one in 20 adults in Great Britain (~2.6 million people) and have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged groups that have higher rates of smoking and typically find it harder to quit [19]. Disposable vapes also have an advantage over other models because of their ease of use, which might make them more appealing to people who smoke and have disabilities or mental health conditions. Commitments are needed to these communities to ensure that affordable and accessible smoking cessation support, including vapes, remain available. Second, misperceptions of the health harms of vaping relative to smoking are worsening and banning disposable vapes while cigarettes (a uniquely lethal product) remain available might unintentionally signal that the former is more harmful than the latter. Such inaccurate perceptions could deter adults who smoke from switching to a less harmful product or lead people who vape to return to smoking [11].

To conclude, the introduction of modern disposable vapes in England drove a pronounced rise in vaping among young people, including among those who have never smoked. The ban on disposable vapes in England, to be implemented on 1 June 2025, aims to reduce vaping among young people while protecting the environment. Although it is likely that ban will protect the environment, alternative vaping products that appeal to youth are already present on the market. Therefore, a greater package of evidence-based regulation, as well as enforcement of age of sale laws, is likely required to substantially reduce youth use. The newly announced Tobacco and Vapes Bill would be well placed to introduce these.

Eve Taylor: Conceptualization (equal); writing—original draft (equal). Harry Tattan-Birch: Conceptualization (equal); writing—original draft (equal). Katherine East: Conceptualization (equal); writing—original draft (equal).

H.T.B. is a Deputy Statistics and Methodology Editor at Addiction. K.E. is an Associate Editor at Addiction.