A lawmaker in Scotland is calling for a ban on disposable vapes “after Scotland’s streets became a plastic dumping ground,” reports the Daily Record.
Gillian Mackay of the Scottish Green Party said city parks have become clogged up by disposable plastic vaping products, which experts say are a threat to children’s health and a menace to wildlife, and she will urge the government to introduce a ban on disposable plastic vapes.
Mackay warned that the single-use devices were turning up more and more on streets and in beach clean-ups—and claimed they could become “the cotton bud of their time.”
The call comes after the Scottish government last year banned most types of single-use plastics as part of efforts to shift to a “circular economy” with fewer items wasted. However, last year’s measure excluded disposable e-cigarettes, which have seen a 14-fold increase in use compared with more eco-friendly rechargeable products.
Mackay recently also called for a ban on flavored vaping products and all advertising for vaping products.
Research last year found that 1.3 million single-use vapes are being discarded every week in the U.K., enough to cover 22 football pitches—an average of two thrown away every second.
Recycling the products is tricky as inside the plastic are valuable lithium batteries. Campaigners say the number of batteries chucked away would be enough to power 1,200 electric cars.