After the ban: what the UK must do next on disposable vapes

The Green Alliance Podcast

Green Alliance

Environment, Uk, Farming, Green Alliance, News, Sustainability, Society & Culture, Government

4.9 • 34 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Disposable vapes were banned in the UK in June 2025, but has the problem gone away? Libby Peake speaks to Scott Butler, Laura Young and Dr Mike McKean about the campaign behind the ban, the damage these devices still cause and what more needs to be done. From toxic waste and discarded lithium to misleading new products and enforcement gaps, the fight isn’t over yet. What will it take to design out disposability and protect public health and the environment?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Green Alliance podcast. We are the charity and think tank dedicated to achieving ambitious leadership for the environment. I'm Libby Peake, senior fellow and head of resource policy here at Green Alliance. I've been leading our work on circular economy and resources for over eight years now, focusing on a Cinderella issue where, until recently, we haven't had as many winds as those working on climate and nature.
0:23.6	And I think it's fair to say that at times it's felt like pushing water up a hill.
0:27.6	One area where we've had a concrete, tangible wind and something to celebrate has been when it comes to disposable vapes,
0:34.6	those insidious, wasteful, addictive devices that have, since the 1st of June,
0:39.7	been banned across the UK. This ban came about because of a powerful alliance of grassroots
0:45.0	campaigners, environmental charities and health organizations, backed by compelling research that
0:50.2	exposed just how awful these devices are to the health of the country's environment and young people.
0:56.2	This is a win to celebrate, but a month and a half on from the band coming into effect,
1:00.6	we thought it was a good time to check in with some of the other organizations and individuals that have worked on the issue,
1:05.9	to understand where we are now and what more needs to happen, including with the tobacco and vapes spill that is still
1:11.6	making its way through Parliament. First up, I spoke with Scott Butler, Chief Executive of
1:16.9	Material Focus, an independent not-for-profit on a mission to stop electricals and the materials
1:22.1	they contain from going to waste. I know for a fact that Scott spends more of his life than he
1:27.3	would like talking about
1:28.2	vapes, so I really appreciate him taking the time to do so here again today. And the reason that
1:33.6	this is the case, though, and I'm asking him to do this, is because material focuses research has
1:37.8	been so impactful in demonstrating just how quickly the market for vapes has exploded, sometimes
1:43.1	literally, and how urgent it is to
1:45.4	get a handle on this situation. So first off, can you give us a sense of how quickly the market
1:51.2	has evolved and where we are now with vapes? We started looking at this issue, I think around
1:56.9	2021, 22, where a student came in to see us who was doing some research on
2:03.3	e-cigarettes and vaping, and they weren't really on our radar at the time. And their research
	...

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