The UK-wide ban on disposable e-cigarettes is falling short as near-identical new reusable vapes sell for nearly the same price and refill pods are in short supply, undermining a government drive to cut waste and protect children’s health.
Single-use vapes have been illegal since June 1, with penalties for businesses that sell or supply products that cannot be refilled with vape liquid or lack rechargeable batteries ranging from an initial fine of £200 to two years in jail.
Setting out the ban last year, ministers said the move would end a “throwaway culture” in the world’s second-largest vaping market, whose use of brightly coloured packaging and sugary flavours appeals to children and young people.
But a Financial Times analysis of 50 convenience shops and vape stores in London and the south east of England found that outlets stock new reusable devices at a significantly higher rate than refills, suggesting consumers are buying the devices repeatedly as single-use products.
Since the legislation took effect, popular single-use brands such as Elf Bar, Lost Mary and Geek Bar have all created near-identical reusable versions of their products that sell for roughly the same price, typically £5.99.
Two in five shops visited by the FT did not sell the cartridge refills required for reusable e-cigarettes, and nearly all shops selling refills had substantially more stock of reusable vapes than refill pods.
Almost a third of them still sold disposable vapes, despite the change in the law, with many prominently displayed.
Harry Tattan-Birch, a senior research fellow at University College London, said: “Shops are stocking the rechargeable version of the disposable vapes without any replacement pods . . . People just continue to treat them like disposables.”
Dan Marchant, chief executive of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said the lack of a “mandate that if you sell the device, you must also sell the refills” was a “flaw” in the ban.
Supply chain issues have hindered retailers’ access to new refill pod kits nationwide, according to the trade body. Marchant, who is also joint owner and managing director of Vape Club, the UK’s largest online vape retailer, pointed to acute shortages across convenience stores, which he said had been “blasé” about the need to order in more products.
Vape Club and Evapo, another specialist retailer, said they had registered a rise in consumers reusing vapes since June 1, thanks to adequate stock of new devices and refill pod kits.
But non-specialist high street shops, which are not required to stock refill pods, still sell reusable devices for single use. Most shop owners who spoke to the FT cited a lack of supply from wholesalers, with many saying it was “impossible” to obtain the new cartridges.
“You can just use [the reusable vape], then throw it away, like you would have done before,” said one shopkeeper who had not stocked any refills because reusable vapes come with prefilled pods.
Ministers have previously acknowledged that vaping can be helpful for adults who are trying to reduce or quit smoking, but they have also voiced concern over the impact of vape flavours and packaging on children.
Research suggests that vaping is less harmful than smoking, although nicotine usage in young people has been associated with mood and attention disorders.
But Sandy Chadha, chief executive of Supreme, an e-cigarette manufacturer that has registered a rise in refill sales, said: “If a kid wants to vape, what is stopping them from buying is not whether it is a reusable or a disposable vape.”
Material Focus, a recycling non-profit, estimates that 8mn vapes, dense with combustible metals such as lithium, went to UK landfills every week last year.
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, warned that “from an environmental point of view this ban . . . could be a disaster” because people were continuing to buy reusable devices as though they were disposable.
Elf Bar and Lost Mary refill pods tend to be priced at £5.99 for a pack of two, making it cheaper for vapers to reuse their device.
But for consumers, the disposable nature of these products remains largely unchanged. “It’s hard to find refill packs . . . I’m still buying ‘reusable vapes’ like they are single use,” said Adam Bellegha, a 33-year-old living in London.
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of campaign group Action on Smoking and Health, said the ban on single-use vapes was “not sufficient to achieve the government’s goals”, and called on manufacturers to better “telegraph” that reusable devices did not need to be discarded.
Vaping prevalence in the UK had levelled off before the law change came into force, with some large tobacco groups such as British American Tobacco publicly reporting a decline in sales of e-cigarettes.
A spokesperson for Lost Mary and Elf Bar said “familiar design and comparable pricing are key to . . . encouraging transition to compliant alternatives”, and “packaging clearly states that the devices are rechargeable”.
The brands’ reusable pod kits were “widely available” and accounted for two-thirds of UK sales, the spokesperson added.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said single-use vapes “get kids hooked on nicotine and blight our high streets”, adding that it fell to “Trading Standards and local authorities to enforce the ban”.
Kate Pike, lead officer for tobacco and vaping at Trading Standards, said that while “the vast majority of legitimate retailers are not selling single-use vapes . . . we realise it is very confusing for the public as many of the new replacement rechargeable and refillable products look very like the single-use vapes they have replaced”.
“Where we find single use vapes being sold or supplied we are seizing them and taking appropriate action against the seller,” Pike added.
Geek Bar and the Association of Convenience Stores did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
