At yesterday’s Council meeting, Winchester City Council passed a motion calling for the government to ban the sale and manufacture of disposable vapes by 2024. The motion was based on a Local Government Association initiative.
Cllr Malcolm Wallace, who supported the call for the ban, said, ‘Disposable vapes are an unsustainable product, so an outright ban is the best solution to the problem. They are very difficult to recycle without special treatment and so can end up littering our streets or going to landfill.’ A report by Material Focus in 2022 states that: 1.3 million single use vapes are thrown away every week or 5.4 million per month. While each vape contains just 0.15g of lithium, the scale of the waste means about 10 tonnes of the metal, equivalent to the batteries inside 1,200 electric vehicles, is ending up in landfills. As well as this, the vapes can be hazardous for waste collections as the lithium batteries can become flammable when crushed and cause bin lorry fires.
Whilst the Council acknowledged the role vapes play in aiding adults to stop smoking, vapes are not risk free, especially to those who have never smoked. Cllr Danny Lee has been raising awareness about the effect vaping is having on children and young people. He states, ‘Several local parents have approached me with concerns about the health implications of vaping on their children. Many vapes are designed and marketed to appeal to children and we will continue to call for more regulation on the display and marketing of vaping products.’
