Disposable vapes as an environmental as well as public health threat: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for: 

1. Do the Scottish government recognise disposable vapes as an environmental as well as public health threat? 

 

2. Does the Scottish Government have/propose policy to mitigate the environmental threat of disposable vapes? Eg, nationwide recycling schemes, disposable vape amnesty boxes? Is this responsibility passed to local councils? 

 

3. Does the Scottish Government monitor the scale of vape disposal in Scotland? If so. How many disposable vapes were recycled by local council recycling centres across Scotland last year? (2022) 

 

4. How many Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) items were recycled in Scotland last year? (2022). How many of these WEEE items were disposable vapes? 

 

5. Are disposable vapes effectively recycled in Scotland? Are local council recycling centres required to disassemble disposable vapes into separate components for effective recycling? Eg. Plastic, lithium batteries. 

 

6. Large retailers such as Tesco are members of WEEE ‘distributor take back schemes’. How much money did Tesco provide to Scottish local councils last year (2022) in order to fund the effective recycling of WEEE products they sell? 

 

7. How many retailers that operate and sell disposable vapes in Scotland (eg. Tesco, Sainsburys) are subscribed to ‘distributor take back schemes’ in Scotland? 

 

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. 

Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. 

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because having conducted reasonable and proportionate searches we have not identified any records within the scope of your request.This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about vapes, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold. 

Response

1. Do the Scottish government recognise disposable vapes as an environmental as well as public health threat? 

The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has commissioned Zero Waste Scotland to undertake a review of the environmental impacts of single-use/disposable vapes. This review will assess the scale and consequences of this issue. 

2. Does the Scottish Government have/propose policy to mitigate the environmental threat of disposable vapes? Eg, nationwide recycling schemes, disposable vape amnesty boxes? Is this responsibility passed to local councils? 

The urgent review of the environmental impacts of disposable vapes will also consider policy options to address the issues caused by disposable vapes. Local authorities are responsible for recycling in their area. E-cigarettes or vapes should be disposed of at small waste electrical and electronic equipment receptacles widely available at household waste recycling centres. 

3. Does the Scottish Government monitor the scale of vape disposal in Scotland? If so. How many disposable vapes were recycled by local council recycling centres across Scotland last year? (2022) 

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the scale of vape disposal in Scotland. As vapes do not currently have a separate reporting category it is not possible to extract the number of vapes recycled by local authorities last year from the category in which it is recorded. Vapes are currently collected by local authorities and categorised alongside similar items as ‘small mixed WEEE’ or ‘small domestic appliances’. 

However, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has commissioned Zero Waste Scotland to undertake a review of the environmental impacts of single-use vapes, and part of this review will be seeking to assess the size and impact of the vape market and disposal in Scotland. 

4. How many Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) items were recycled in Scotland last year? (2022). How many of these WEEE items were disposable vapes? 

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many WEEE items were recycled in Scotland last year. 

Data is available on total volumes of different categories of WEEE received at an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) in the UK here: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee-in- the-uk 

Data reported is in tonnes, not the number of items. 

Though there is no breakdown for Scotland only, based on this data Zero Waste Scotland estimate that approximately 28,413 tonnes of WEEE was collected in Scotland (both household and business) via Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities between January and September 2022 (based on using a 92/8% UK/Scotland population split). Please note that some WEEE is collected by private businesses and not reported in these figures and though items are collected in Scotland they may be recycled elsewhere. 

Data is not held on the proportion of WEEE items recycled that were disposal vapes. 

5. Are disposable vapes effectively recycled in Scotland? Are local council recycling centres required to disassemble disposable vapes into separate components for effective recycling? Eg. Plastic, lithium batteries. 

Local authorities in Scotland do not disassemble vapes into different fractions at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs). Vapes, as with all WEEE, are transferred to specialist treatment facilities where they can be properly managed. HWRCs act as collection centres and not as treatment sites. 

The review of the environmental impacts of single-use vapes will consider the availability of safe disposal and recycling for single use vapes. 

6. Large retailers such as Tesco are members of WEEE ‘distributor take back schemes’. How much money did Tesco provide to Scottish local councils last year (2022) in order to fund the effective recycling of WEEE products they sell? 

The Scottish Government does not hold specific data on how much individual retailers provide to Scottish local authorities through any WEEE distributor takeback scheme. 

7. How many retailers that operate and sell disposable vapes in Scotland (eg. Tesco, Sainsburys) are subscribed to ‘distributor take back schemes’ in Scotland? 

Vapes and e-cigarettes are subject to the provisions of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (the WEEE regulations). As such, anybody who sells a vape or e-cigarette to a consumer has obligations including to accept the return of WEEE from private households subject to certain conditions. 

A Distributor Takeback Scheme is operated by Valpak Retail WEEE Services for WEEE across the UK. The Scottish Government does not hold data on membership of the Distributor Takeback Scheme as this is regulated by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. 

 

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