UKVIA Makes LGA Comment
The UK Vaping Industry Association has commented on the Local Government Association demanding that the Government bans disposable vapes
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by Dave Cross
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A couple of weeks ago, Councillor Linda Taylor, the LGA’s environment spokesperson, told journalists: “Single-use vapes, just like any other item of hazardous waste, need to be properly classified and producers must take responsibility for the litter they create. The volume of these items that council waste teams are handling is increasing, and this is coming at a great cost to the council taxpayer. We need a crackdown on the producers and retailers of these products, and to get this litter under control.”
Around the same time, UKVIA was welcoming the government saying it was going to “clampdown” on rogue firms selling vapes to children. UKVIA had been urging such action for more than a year.
At the time, John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA, said: “For too long some rogue firms have felt they had free reign to sell a product designed to help adult smokers quit, to youngsters because they realised that the chances of getting caught were slim at best.
“Even if they get caught, the fines – which have been as low as just £26 – are no deterrent so we welcome the review into fines and repeat our calls that they should be up to £10,000 per instance and be backed up by a retail licensing scheme which would include age verification requirements and robust enforcement by Trading Standards departments up and down the country.
“Sadly, many Trading Standards departments are not resourced anywhere near enough to clampdown on the illicit and illegal vape sales and this is an issue that the government should now look at very seriously indeed.”
It appears that the shift in the LGA’s position has been prompted by the Royal College of Paediatrics releasing a report stating that a ban was needed to tackle underage youth vaping and the impact on the environment.
This weekend, John Dunne, the director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, told The Guardian that a complete ban is not the solution the LGA thinks it could be because a slew of “untested and potentially deadly black-market products” will enter the market.
He told them: “It also makes absolutely no sense to call for a ban on disposable vapes while ignoring the much bigger problem of smoking and its related litter, which accounts for 68% of all litter in the UK,” adding that UKVIA’s members are “working hard to minimise [the] environmental impact” and how consumer education could play a key role.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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