Aberdeen City Council lodge support for banning single use vapes
The number of 15-year-olds vaping in Scotland has tripled in the last five years
Last updated 29th Jan 2024
Aberdeen City has become the latest in a long list of Scottish councils to support a potential ban of single use vapes.
The motion was presented to the city's Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee, with a number of environmental concerns being raised in the chamber.
Health concerns have also been raised, with the use of e-cigarettes such as ELF Bars and Geek Bars rising among young people.
The number of 15-year-olds vaping has tripled in the last five years, whilst more than 10% of S4 pupils in Scotland now admit to vaping, according to the Scottish Government's Health and Wellbeing Census.
Motion receives unanimous support
Councillor Kairin van Sweeden (Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen) lodged the motion, with politicians from all parties supporting it.
"That's always a positive", said Cllr van Sweeden, on gaining cross party support.
"It (vaping) is clearly attractive for young people. It's having a negative health impact on them and it's having a negative impact on our environment.
"We've moved from a place where vaping was really seen as something to help with smoking cessation, and now it's moved into this fun activity, which is not really what it was supposed to be in the first place."
"I talk in the motion about how much surface area this waste is, and you're looking at 22 football pitches per annum, is what this waste would cover.
"Councils are then employed to clean up and that's another cost for us, which is going to take money away from other things."
Industry leaders 'not adverse' to supporting ban
Whilst calls to completely ban disposable vapes are growing in Scotland, VPZ, who have more than 160 stores in the UK, believe there are solutions to the problem.
"We're a Scottish based company that is the leader in this space. We understand the long term aims and goals of the country to become smoke free, and how we can assist to do that, but there's a total wall barrier cover that nobody wants to engage on", said Manufacturing and Compliance Director at VPZ, Doug Mutter.
"A ban on disposables is not something that we would be averse to supporting. But what has to be in place in the background is the policing and enforcement to ensure that the black market and the 'cowboy players' that are doing it currently can no longer operate.
"What you will have is a company that is compliant and goes along and does everything that is required of the regulation, but the people that are doing it now, will still do then, and there will be a route of market for itself if it is not controlled and policed and enforced correctly.
"We've called on the Scottish Government, we want engagement on this, we're happy to engage with any local authorities, all members of government, anyone who wants to be part of this discussion, we want to be part of this discussion, because we understand there are solutions that will work."