MP for Coventry East is calling for the end of the UK's single use vape era
The ban on single use vapes will be coming into effect across the UK on the 1st June 2025
The MP for Coventry East, Mary Creagh, is calling for the end of the single use vape era. This comes as the single use vape ban will come into effect in under two months across the country.
High street shops and convenience stores are being urged to deplete their stocks of single-use vapes ahead of new legislation coming into force. The deadline for selling any remaining single-use vapes was confirmed as 1 June 2025 when legislation was laid in parliament last year, with a government consultation showing overwhelming support.
Analysis by Material Focus found an estimated 8.2 million vapes are now thrown away or littered every week in the UK, which is the equivalent of 13 each second.
Recycling single-use vapes is notoriously difficult, with waste industry workers needing to take them apart by hand which can be a slow and costly process. Their contents also present a fire risk to recycling facilities and can leak harmful chemicals into the environment.
If businesses have any single-use vapes in their possession after 1 June 2025, they will not be able to sell them to shoppers and must ensure they are disposed of safely. They will also face prosecution or an unlimited fine.
We've been speaking with the Waste Minister, Mary Creagh, on the current harm single use vapes are presenting in our environment.
MP Creagh said: "We are bringing in a ban on single use vapes to end the throwaway society. We are transforming Britain from a throwaway society to a circular economy where products are built to last, not designed to fail, and where materials are given a new life again and again.
"The ban is also a really important opportunity to clean up Britain, tackling waste and restoring pride in our local communities, and we're taking other actions to bring in tough sanctions for waste criminals.
"The ban on single use vapes comes in on the 1st of June and we have given the High Street six months notice of that. We urge shops and convenience stores to start running down their stocks of single use vapes ahead of the ban and of course trading standards will be able to seize any stocks that are sold after that time."
MP Creagh continued to tell us of the long term importance of the ban. MP Creagh said: "So this is the end of the single use vape era in our country.
"It's part of our work to have a smoke free generation, an entire generation of children and young people growing up without exposure to the harms that nicotine and nicotine derived products present to their health."