Parliament
Further exchanges about vaping and tobacco harm reduction from the House of Commons consider sport sponsorship and recycling issues connected to vaping
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by Dave Cross
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Rother Valley’s Alexander Stafford asked the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Department is taking steps to ban vaping brands from promoting their products through sponsorship or any other means to children.
John Whittingdale, The Minister of State for the Department, told Stafford that he had already asked this question on 18 July and the answer hadn’t changed over time.
The answer given back then stated the Government had no plans to adopt a ban on vape advertising.
Whittingdale said: “The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating advertising in the UK. The ASA already has rules in place that prohibit adverts for nicotine-containing vapes not licensed as medicines from appearing on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and periodicals, online, and in commercial emails and text messages. Only a small number of nicotine-containing vaping adverts are permitted, and the ASA requires all vaping advertising to be socially responsible and not be placed in media targeted at under-18s or in media where more than 25% of its audience is under-18.”
Next, Alex Cunningham, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Justice, asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the adequacy of retail outlet disposal points for vapes.
DEFRA Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Rebecca Pow told him: “The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require retailers of vapes (and other electrical and electronic equipment) to provide take-back systems for their customers. We have committed to consult on reviewing the existing WEEE regulations in 2023 to strengthen the obligations placed on retailers (and producers) to make it easier and more convenient for householders to dispose of their unwanted equipment, including vapes.”
Alex Cunningham followed up by asking what assessment has been made of the potential cost to the public purse of recycling disposable vapes.
Rebecca Pow explained that Defra has recently commissioned research in order to understand the market for and environmental impacts of disposable vapes and associated cost impacts.
She said: “That research will be published in due course. Currently there is no cost to the public purse for recycling disposable vapes that are deposited at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require producers of electrical and electronic equipment (including vapes) to finance the collection and proper treatment of those products when they become waste at HWRCs.”
Finally, Alex Cunningham wanted to know whether the Department is taking steps to ensure ecig manufacturers are funding the processing of their single-use products.
Rebecca Pow reminded Alex Cunningham that the WEEE Regulations require all producers of electrical and electronic equipment (including vapes) to take financial responsibility for the collection, and proper treatment the products that they place on the market when those products become waste at household waste recycling centres or are returned to retailers.
She concluded: “We have committed to consult on reviewing the existing WEEE regulations in 2023 to strengthen the obligations placed on producers and retailers to make it easier and more convenient for householders to dispose of their unwanted equipment, including vapes. In so doing we will make sure that the treatment costs that rise from waste vapes fall squarely on those who manufacture or import them.”
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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