The recognition of disposable e-cigarettes or vapes has fallen forward of a UK-wide ban on their sale on 1 June, a research has discovered.
Researchers consider vape customers are switching to refillable and rechargeable vapes in anticipation of the ban.
The share of individuals aged 16-24 who primarily use disposable vapes has dropped by almost half within the final 12 months from 63% to 35%, in keeping with College Faculty London (UCL) analysis.
General vaping use stalled between January 2024 and 2025 in all adults over 16, after a number of years of serious development.
The UK authorities ban on disposable and single-use vapes is aimed toward stopping littering as, typically, the vapes can’t be recycled and sometimes find yourself in landfill or pollute pure environments.
The ban can also be aimed toward tackling rising charges of youth vaping and defending youngsters from hurt.
The UCL research checked out survey knowledge on vaping habits in England, Wales and Scotland each earlier than and after the ban was introduced.
The research used knowledge from the Smoking Toolkit Examine, which collected knowledge on 88,611 individuals aged 16 and over.
Earlier than the ban, between January 2022 and January 2024, vaping amongst these aged 16 and over went up from 8.9% to 13.5%.
In younger adults aged 16-24, utilization elevated extra sharply, from 17% to 26.5%.
After the ban was introduced, researchers discovered a decline within the variety of vapers primarily utilizing disposable e-cigarettes – in all age teams and notably amongst 16-24 12 months olds.
The research solely requested vape customers about their important selection of machine.
Dr Sarah Jackson, who works for the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Analysis Group and is the lead creator of the survey, tells the BBC she thinks “extra persons are turning to refillable, reusable units” somewhat than stopping vaping altogether.
“We regularly see individuals change their behaviour in response to impending coverage adjustments earlier than they arrive into motion,” she provides.
Disposable vapes are single-use units, which come pre-filled with vape liquid, whereas refillable and rechargeable (reusable) units have an extended shelf-life and are sometimes a less expensive strategy to vape within the long-term.
A reusable vape has vape liquid that may be refilled and a battery that may be recharged.
Dr Jackson provides that vape producers have additionally been fast to react to the upcoming ban, with “the preferred” disposable manufacturers producing rechargeable variations of their hottest fashions.
“They’re very comparable in design, colors, flavours and even worth,” she says.
Whereas Dr Jackson thinks it is too early to inform whether or not the federal government’s new technique will deter younger individuals from vaping, she maintains that well being legislators face “a problem of steadiness”.
“We all know it is smart to do one thing to try to scale back the huge numbers of younger individuals taking on vaping, however the important thing public well being precedence right here does stay smoking,” she says.
“That is vastly extra dangerous and is killing lots of people yearly, so we have to ensure that any coverage measures which can be introduced in to sort out youth vaping do not put individuals off utilizing vapes, that are very efficient at quitting smoking,” she provides.
