Suffolk Trading Standards welcome ban on single use vapes
The sale of disposable vapes will be banned by next summer
Suffolk Trading standards have welcomed the ban on single use vapes by next summer.
Single-use vapes aren't rechargeable, can't be refilled and around five million were binned or littered in the UK last year.
The government's set out plans for the deadline in England - and says it'll work to 'align coming-into-force dates' with the devolved nations.
It's also hoped the ban will address the boom in vaping and reduce the appeal to children.
Sasha Watson from Suffolk Trading Standards told us her concerns:
"We welcome it in the fact that we hope that it will reduce the access of those disposable vapes to those under the age of 18, which is where we see a high number of complaints to trading standards, about 70% of the complaints we get are related to underage sales related to vapes.
However, we have great concerns that the the products will go in more like a black market type product where we see illegal tobacco for example, we suspect we will start seeing the vapes being hidden in shops.
We already are seeing that the product is changing, it's becoming that it's not a disposable product. So it won't actually be caught by this the new ban."
The new legislation put before parliament would give shops in England until June 1st to sell any remaining stock.
Anyone with concerns about the safety of a product should report it to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.