Superdrug will stop selling disposable vapes in all its stores in Ireland and Britain after concerns about the environmental damage from millions of single-use e-cigarettes.
Brands such as Vuse GO and Flavaah Bars would no longer be sold, the retailer said, adding that it would have the stock completely cleared by the end of the year. Superdrug said it sold an average of 1,300 units of single-use vapes a week in stores and did not sell them online.
The company said it had made the decision in order to protect the environment.
Lucy Morton-Channon, its head of environment, social and governance, said: “The rate that consumers are using single-use vapes and discarding them is worrying and alarming for the environment. The lasting effects that single-use vapes are having on the environment needs to be addressed, and I am pleased that we’ve decided to remove them from all stores.”
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Research from the recycling campaign group Material Focus recently found 5 million disposable vapes were being thrown away in the UK every week, a fourfold increase on 2022. This amounts to eight vapes a second being discarded, with the lithium in the products enough to create 5,000 electric car batteries a year.
Superdrug also cited the risk of fires caused by improper disposal of vapes because many contain lithium batteries. – Guardian service
