Suppliers told to pay for recycling of vapes under new proposals

Vape suppliers could be responsible for financing the recycling of their own products directly from households in the very near future.

The move is part of a range measures unveiled last month, and forms part of a joint UK government, Scottish government, Welsh government, and Northern Ireland Executive consultation, in a bid to improve greater reuse and recycling of electrical goods.

Amongst the proposals, which would potentially take effect from 2026, include UK-wide collections of waste electricals directly from households which would be finances by producers of electrical items, such as vapes and not necessarily require any further bins; and retailers taking on responsibility for collecting unwanted or broken large electrical items.

As it stands, under Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations, any shop selling more than £1,923 in electronics, including vapes, per week is legally required to operate a recycling point. Stores below the threshold must either pay to join a take-back scheme or offer a return point. However, an industry source confirmed that the proposal would not change anything to existing obligations, and retailers will still be required to take back vapes.

Executive director of the Environmental Services Association, Jacob Hayler said: “Waste electricals and particularly vapes increasingly contain powerful batteries and are now responsible for hundreds of serious fires every year when not recycled responsibly, so we hope that offering convenient and widespread household collection services for these devices will also help reverse the growing trend of battery fires blighting the sector.”

The above measures build upon the prime minister’s plan, announced last year, to restrict the sale of disposable vapes being sold to youths, in particular.