Leo wrote to Ministers at both DEFRA and the Department of Health in September, highlighting the risks vaping poses to young people and the environment, and encouraging further action
Following this letter, Leo has received a response from DEFRA on the work the Government is doing to stop young people and children from having access to disposable vapes as well as how to minimise their negative impact on the environment.
You can read the response from the Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience, Rebecca Pow MP, below:
Dear Leo,
Thank you for your email of 13 September about disposable vapes.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 require the producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), which includes e-cigarettes and vapes, to take financial responsibility for the environmental impact of the products that they place on the market when those products become waste.
The Regulations seek to reduce the amount of WEEE going to landfill by encouraging its separate collection and subsequent treatment, re-use, recovery, recycling, and environmentally sound disposal.
Under the existing WEEE Regulations, householders can take unwanted electrical equipment to designated collection facilities (typically household waste recycling centres or civic amenity sites operated by local authorities) free of charge. The cost of the collection, transport and subsequent treatment and recycling of that waste is financed by producers through membership of a producer compliance scheme.
Consumers that wish to dispose of WEEE (such as vapes) should either take their items to their local authority household waste recycling centre or, if the consumer is making a like for like purchase and the retailer offers in-store take-back, the consumer should be able to deposit their WEEE in-store for onward treatment.
Material Focus is a UK-wide campaign making it easier for everyone to reuse and recycle unwanted electricals. They provide electrical recycling locator, which shows the nearest location to recycle WEEE. In addition, a growing number of local authorities now offer free collection of small WEEE items with their normal kerbside collection of recycling. It is worth checking if this is something your constituent’s local authority already offers.
Retailers are required to offer in-store take-back for like for like products or join the approved Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS). The funds collected from retailer members of the DTS are used to support initiatives which are designed to contribute to increased collections for reuse and recycling of WEEE. Retailers who offer in-store take-back should arrange for the collected WEEE to be recycled at an approved authorised treatment facility. If a retailer is selling EEE, they have a legal responsibility to provide free written information to their customers on which takeback service they provide, and how consumers can reuse and recycle EEE.
The Government is concerned by the increasing use of disposable vaping products, particularly amongst children, and their impact on the environment when they become waste. We are exploring a range of measures to address this following a Call for Evidence on Youth Vaping which closed in June.