Disposable Vapes
- With 5 million thrown away each week, the RSPCA is concerned about disposable vapes and their impact on animals and the environment.
- Between 2017-2022, the Veterinary Poisons Information Service received 680 enquiries about all types of vape liquid products and electronic cigarette products.
- Of these enquiries, 656 of these related to dogs, 19 to cats, 4 to birds, 1 for a pony and 1 ferret. These cases included two fatalities fue to exposure of these products in 1 dog and 1 cat.
- Animals can suffer nicotine poisoning if they ingest vapes or the vape liquid, and in severe cases this can be fatal. There have also been at least three reports in the media of dogs dying afrer consuming e-cigrarettes.
- Disposable vapes are classified as electrical waste, their disposal is covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Regulations 2013.
- This restricts the options that vape users have for depositing their vapes, they are limited to either returning them to the retailer, or taking them to household waste recycling centres which are often inconvenient to reach.
- Due to the difficulty in safely recycling disposable vapes, the RSPCA believes that implementing a ban on the import, production and sale of disposable vapes is the best option to reduce their environmental impact.
Reccomendations for Government
- We have been calling for Governments across the UK to ban disposable vapes and we are pleased that this has now been announced by the UK Government following a consultation.
- We would urge the Government to bring forward proposed legislation as soon as possible to ban disposable vapes to ensure the protection of the environment, wildlife and animals.