The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in England from June next year, the government has confirmed.

Ministers say the move aims to prevent environmental damage and protect children’s health.

Similar restrictions are expected to be imposed by the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The ban was first announced in January by the previous government, but was not implemented before the general election.

The government said disposable vapes are difficult to recycle and typically end up in landfills, where their batteries can leak harmful waste like battery acid, lithium and mercury into the environment.

Batteries thrown in household waste also cause this hundreds of fires Every year in bin lorries and waste-processing centres.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates that almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown into general waste every week last year, an increase from the previous year. That’s almost a four-fold increase.

It said the vapes discarded in 2022 contained a total of more than 40 tonnes of lithium, enough to power 5,000 electric vehicles.

Defra’s circular economy minister Mary Creagh, whose role focuses on reducing waste in the economy, said disposable vapes are “extremely wasteful and cause harm to our towns and cities”.

“That’s why we’re banning single-use vapes because we’re eliminating the throwaway culture of this country,” he said.

“This is the first step on the path to a circular economy, where we use resources longer, reduce waste, accelerate the path to net-zero and create thousands of jobs across the country.”

It’s already illegal to sell any vape to anyone under the age of 18, but disposable vapes – often sold in smaller, more colorful packaging than refillable packaging – are “behind the alarming rise in youth vaping.” are the main drivers”, the previous government had said for the first time, determine its plan.

Number of people doing Vashikaran The trend of never smoking has also increased In recent years, mostly driven by young adults.

According to the NHS, vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, but it has not been around long enough to know its long-term risks.

Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said that disposables “have become the product of choice for the majority of children vaping today” and that banning them would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people”. .

The government is planning to introduce legislation to ban the sale of disposable vapes from June 1, 2025, to give retailers time to sell their remaining stock.

Devolved governments have announced intentions to introduce similar restrictions, and the UK government said it is working with them to align the dates on which the restrictions will come into effect.

The measure is separate from government plans to end smoking by banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after January 2009.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Monday that a bill to implement the ban would be introduced into Parliament before Christmas.

replying to Original announcement of ban on disposable vapes In January, the UK Vaping Industry Association said that vapes “have helped millions of adults give up and stay away from cigarettes” and that the plan would put children at risk by “turbocharging the black market”.