An Edinburgh vaping shopkeeper has said that he would support a ban on disposable vaping products so long as it does not lead customers to a potential black market.
Doug Mutter, of VPZ in Edinburgh, makes and sells vapes but argues that he would be in favour of a move that would limit the availability of disposable items.
But he has cautioned that a similar ban in Australia has led to a black market surfacing which sells illegal and unsafe products underground, the Daily Record reports.
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He claims that the vaping industry in the UK recognises the severity of the issues caused by single-use vapes on the environment.
VPZ has 150 stores in the UK and Mutter, who is also the the director of the UK Vaping Industry Association – told the BBC that disposables had a place for smokers who would like to try vaping but did not want to invest immediately in reusable kit.
He said: “There should be a ban on disposables that we would support if there were proper punishments and policing put in place to enforce the ban and ensure that a black market doesn’t bubble up.”
Enforcement should be funded by a licensing scheme, he said, which retailers would have to be a part of to sell vaping products.
An urgent review ordered by the Scottish Government is to report within days. It was commissioned after a campaign by climate activist Laura Young who had been collecting dozens of disposable vapes each day while walking her dog in Dundee.
The review is expected to assess the scale of the problem and set out options available to ministers.
Disposable vapes contain lithium batteries which should be disposed of at recycling centres. But each year millions are discarded.
Refillable vapes are much cheaper to use in the long-term and have less of an environmental impact.
Laura said: “We need people to know there’s a battery inside these things so please don’t chuck it in the bin.”
The small batteries can easily be damaged during waste collection and processing.
This was thought to be the most likely cause of a blaze that destroyed the Suez recycling facility in Aberdeen last year.
Colin Forshaw, of Suez, said: “When damaged they can spontaneously combust and start fires. If that happens within recycling materials it can lead to large-scale fires, as we’ve seen.”
