Waitrose has stopped selling single-use vaping products in every one of its UK stores.
In a statement released by the supermarket, it said the move had been made due to reports suggesting the market growth for vaping is being fuelled by those who haven’t previously smoked cigarettes before.
The products Waitrose has removed from its shelves are vapes which contained lithium and were previously sold under the Ten Motives Label.
In a statement released by the supermarket, Charlotte Di Cello Waitrose's commercial director said: “We are a retailer driven by doing the right thing, so selling single-use vapes is not something we could justify given the impact on both the environment and the health of young people.
“We had already decided it wasn’t right to stock the fashionable bright-coloured devices which are seeing rapid growth – so this decision is the final jigsaw piece in our clear decision not to be part of the single-use vaping market.”
Waitrose is the first UK supermarket to stop selling the vaping products.
No other UK grocer has announced or hinted that it would follow the move and remove single-use vapes from sale.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has previously said vaping devices such as e-cigarettes had played a significant role in reducing the prevalence of tobacco smoking across the UK.
Last month, the ONS estimated that in 2021 there were around 6.6 million smokers in the UK, which is around 13.3% across the UK and 13% in England.
This was down from 14.0% across the UK in 2020 and 13.8% in England.
A report by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released last September found around 8.3% of adults in England, Wales and Scotland vape.
This is up from the 1.7% it had recorded ten years ago.
The anti-smoking group said the number of vapers a decade ago sat at around 800,000 however, it estimates that there are currently 4.3 million people using e-cigarettes now.
E-cigarettes were first created in 2004. They do not burn tobacco, meaning the most harmful aspects of smoking – tar and carbon monoxide – are not created.
But they do still contain nicotine which is the highly addictive ingredient in cigarettes which makes them very hard to quit.
Two thirds of all smokers would like to quit smoking and around 45% of smokers try to give up every year.
