If we look to the future towards a Labour government we should look to proposals put forward by campaigners backed by Barry Gardiner MP, A Plastic Planet, who recommended banning single-use vapes by March 2024.

In the report launched at Labour Party conference by A Plastic Planet in October 2023 called The Reuse, Refill and Replace Revolution proposals set out a roadmap to a plastic free future. It claimed today plastic is a menace, citing United Nations Environment Programme evidence that shows chemicals are released rom plastic throughout its whole life cycle. In the foreword written by Barry Gardiner, he set out a vision of the future that is “ambitious, business friendly, and (crucially) plastic free.

What were the claims made about the vaping industry in the report?

The report cited that over 1.3 million disposable vapes were thrown away every week in 2022. Yet more recent research shows this has quadrupled to 5 million disposable vapes discarded a week in bins, which equates to 8 per second. Consumers in the UK are buying 7.7 million a week, which shows that only 17% are disposing such devices correctly. While 400 million disposable vapes are now purchased annually, previous research cited 59,650 tonnes of CO2 being emitted from 167.5 million sold in previous years. This is the same amount of CO2 released by around 376,000 people in the UK per annum. Extrapolating the report this is now at least 142,590 tonnes of being carbon emitted. Globally it was suggested 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 is released in the production of such devices, equating to 0.3% of the Amazon Rainforest’s annual capacity for absorbing carbon emissions.

What recommendations did the report make on disposable e-cigarettes?

A Plastic Planet suggested the industry should be forced to reduce its plastic footprint and remove plastic from its products. As single-use disposable devices are complicated and considered “unrecyclable” in any waste stream. In effect sold as “future landfill”. The report called for an immediate ban on single-use devices, while suggesting this would be a catalyst for innovation and a move towards materials that avoid the use of conventional plastics.

The ROARLABS Commitment

At ROARLABS we recognize the difficulty of recycling disposable e-cigarettes and welcome the call for a ban on plastics to reduce carbon emissions in the industry. We have committed to carbon footprint labelling all products associated with our dependency treatment pathways to provide the transparency the industry requires, while using materials that are more carbon friendly.