Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government takes the environmental impact of single-use vapes very seriously. Last year I commissioned an urgent review of the environmental impact of single-use vapes, which found that up to 26 million disposable vapes were consumed and thrown away in Scotland in just one year, of which an estimated 10 per cent were littered and more than half were incorrectly disposed.

Our Programme for Government committed to taking action to tackle the environmental impact of single use vapes, including consulting on a proposal to ban them. In September 2023, at the initiation of the Scottish Government, Ministers and senior officials from across the UK met to discuss single-use vapes. They discussed the available evidence, recognised shared challenges, and committed to work together on a range of options to tackle the impacts, up to and including a ban.

Following this, the Scottish Government, along with the UK Government, Welsh Government, and Department for Health and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland held a four nations consultation on Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping which ran from October-December 2023. The consultation included a range of proposals, including consideration of a ban on single-use vapes and other measures to reduce their environmental impact. In November 2023 I wrote to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, to update the Committee on the government’s approach to tackling the issue.

I am pleased to announce that today, that the Scottish Government will take forward the legislation needed to the ban the sale and supply of single use vapes in Scotland, with a view to a ban coming into force at the earliest opportunity.

The four nations consultation response, published today, shows clear support for this measure. We are encouraged that the responses from Scotland accounted for 11% of the 28,000 responses received in total, exceeding expectations for comprehensive representation and highlighting the need for action on these issues. In Scotland, 82.3% supported restrictions on single-use vapes (79.3% UK-wide), and 73.4% favoured an outright ban (68.1% UK-wide).

We will continue to work with UK Government and other Devolved Governments as we develop this legislation, and will engage with Parliament as appropriate and necessary during this process.