Experts warn that redesigning vaping products to circumvent legal bans on disposables will do little to reduce the environmental damage caused by e-cigarette waste.
Manufacturers are developing their products after the UK government introduced a ban on disposable items, due to come into effect in April 2025.
The British Medical Association said on Wednesday that vapes should only be sold over the counter and recommended stricter regulation of the industry, including a ban on the sale of disposable vapes.
A disposable vape is defined as a vape that is designed for single use and is not refillable or rechargeable. According to research, five million are thrown away every week and a ban has been proposed to reduce the impact on the environment.
Elfbar and Lost Mary, sister brands that together account for more than half of disposable vape sales in the UK, have launched reusable versions.
Newer vapes have a liquid with nicotine in a replaceable pod and a USB port to charge the battery, allowing the body of the vape to be reused. New “big puff” also have a recyclable battery and contain four recyclable pods with vape liquid.
Critics have said the newer products could lead to more pod waste, while potentially reducing battery waste. They warned that given the products’ low cost and a continued lack of recycling services, consumers could continue to treat them as disposable.
Scott Butler, the executive director of the nonprofit Material Focus, said vape manufacturers and importers had made the adjustments “to put their products just outside the reach of a likely definition of disposable vapes.”
The new vapes are priced similarly to existing disposable products, and sometimes cheaper per puff. “It’s as easy to buy a vape as it is to buy a bag of crisps or chocolate bars. Instead, it should be as easy to recycle one as it is to buy one,” Butler said.
“Vape manufacturers, importers and retailers are still legally required to offer and fund take-back and recycling, and 90% of them still don’t. So now is the time for them to take action.”
Kate Pike, head of tobacco and vaping at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said some vape manufacturers are being “innovative” in redesigning products that may be less harmful to the environment.
However, she added: “The price of the pod products is not significantly higher than the single-use, disposable vape. Will consumers consider them disposable even though they can be reused? The pod products still have to be taken to a vape retailer and the vape retailer still has to offer collection and they still have to send the vapes out for recycling.
“It will likely be more complex for them as it is entirely possible that the pod itself (which contains the coil) will need to be collected separately from the device and sent for recycling. I fear there is already little compliance with the responsibilities to collect and recycle vapes and I am not sure that will change.”
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A quarter of a billion disposable vapes could be thrown away before a ban comes into effect next year because most retailers are failing to meet their legal obligation to help consumers recycle them, according to research by Material Focus.
The non-profit organisation found that more than 90% of vape manufacturers and retailers did not appear to provide or pay for the return and recycling of single-use e-cigarettes. High street brands and convenience stores were among the worst offenders, with few or no recycling drop-off points, the organisation found.
Researchers visited more than 700 stores looking for drop-off locations or asking if they could recycle their vape products after seeing the products for sale. Even some stores that said they had drop-off programs told shoppers they wouldn’t take the products.
An Elfbar spokesperson said the company “refutes any suggestion that we are trying to circumvent proposed restrictions”, adding that it was “working with manufacturer compliance schemes to ensure the cost of recycling vapes is met, and this is also evolving due to new Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive requirements, which we support”.
The spokesperson said Elfbar has delivered thousands of vape trays through retail partners in the UK to support the recycling process.