The Daily Populous Wednesday April 16th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by alphahydra

The UK government ban on disposable and single-use vapes is aimed at stopping littering as, in most cases, the vapes cannot be recycled and often end up in landfill or pollute natural environments.

The ban is also aimed at tackling rising rates of youth vaping and protecting children from harm.

GP Dr Helen Wall told BBC Breakfast that NHS advice is "very clear" that vaping should be used as a means to stop smoking.

"But for people who have never smoked, and for young people particularly, to turn to vaping can be quite detrimental," she said.

"Our young people are becoming quite addicted. It's affecting their concentration, they're becoming agitated, their capacity to learn is affected, their developing brain can be affected."

The UCL study looked at survey data on vaping habits in England, Wales and Scotland both before and after the ban was announced.

The study used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, which collected data on 88,611 people aged 16 and over.

Before the ban, between January 2022 and January 2024, vaping among those aged 16 and over went up from 8.9% to 13.5%.

In young adults aged 16-24, usage increased more sharply, from 17% to 26.5%.

After the ban was announced, researchers found a decline in the number of vapers mainly using disposable e-cigarettes - in all age groups and particularly among 16-24 year olds.

The study only asked vape users about their main choice of device.

Dr Sarah Jackson, who works for the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group and is the lead author of the survey, tells the BBC she thinks "more people are turning to refillable, reusable devices" rather than stopping vaping altogether.

"We often see people change their behaviour in response to impending policy changes before they come into action," she adds.

Disposable vapes are single-use devices, which come pre-filled with vape liquid, whereas refillable and rechargeable (reusable) devices have a longer shelf-life and are often a cheaper way to vape in the long-term.

A reusable vape has vape liquid that can be refilled and a battery that can be recharged.

JuggerBuzz on April 16th, 2025 at 10:47 UTC »

vape shop worker here

We're not selling less disposables, we're selling less devices that are legally classed as disposables. Companies like Hayati and Lost Mary are now selling devices that are rechargeable and have replaceable liquid pods. The catch is that they don't sell the liquid pods on their own so you have to buy a new device. They are disposable but they're engineered to not be classed as such to avoid the ban.

Starship_Earth_Rider on April 16th, 2025 at 07:56 UTC »

Are vapers going cold turkey? Or just moving to other stuff? Not to be a downer

alphahydra on April 16th, 2025 at 07:41 UTC »

At least it will be nice not to see all these single-use non-rechargeable lithium devices littering the streets everywhere I go.