Material Focus has also revealed that if there is a 12-month lead into the ban as announced on 29 January 2024, at least a quarter of a billion single-use vapes will get thrown away.
The not-for-profit organisation has called for “immediate action”, as retailers/producers are “failing to pay the costs of collection and recycling of vapes which they are legally obliged to do”.
Material Focus conducted research amongst 764 retailers in 13 cities across the UK who sell vapes, including high street brands, convenience stores and specialist vape stores.
The research found that, despite legal obligations being in place since 1 January 2021, “only 11%” provided recycling points, while vape drop-off points were available in 33% of 57 specialist vape retailers. According to Material Focus, high street brands provided “very little or zero” recycling drop-off points for vapes.
Analysis
The analysis, which examined the company records of over 165 of the most significant vape and vape juice producers in the UK, identified that “only 15 had registered to comply with environmental regulations for producer responsibility for waste electricals, portable batteries, and packaging”.
All of the companies that were identified via Material Focus’s analysis are said to be a member of a vape industry trade association such as the UKVIA or IBVTA, also registering their products with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Material Focus analysis also identified that if all of the “360 million disposable single-use vapes that are bought in the UK per annum” were financed to be recycle by producers, the cost would be “up to £200 million per annum”.
‘Shocking’
Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, said: “The environmental responsibilities of vape producers and retailers are very clear. Any company that is producing significant quantities of electrical items is required to register, report their sales and finance the cost of their product being recycled.
“Retailers are also responsible for ensuring that it’s easy for their customers to recycle these products by providing recycling drop off points in their stores. This isn’t just an issue for specialist vape companies. Well-known high street supermarkets, newsagents, petrol stations and convenience store chains are profiting from disposable vapes at significant cost to the environment and at major risk to the public and wildlife.”
“It is shocking that there has been so little progress since last year. As sales and profits have boomed the environmental impacts and costs of collecting and recycling waste vapes have been disregarded.
“With the forthcoming ban on single-use vapes due to be implemented in 2025, it is vital that the quarter of a billion plus vapes, that could be thrown away in the run up to the ban, are instead collected for recycling and that we put in place an effective and accessible system for managing the recycling of new vape products, such as pods already coming onto the market.”
For more information on how to recycle vapes, and to find your nearest recycling point, visit www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk
Subscribe for free