Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential for single-use vaping pens to be recycled including (a) plastic body, (b) circuit board, and (c) battery components; if he will make an estimate of the number of those devices sent to landfill; and if he will make an assessment of the (i) effect on the environment of those devices and (ii) the potential merits of a ban on their sale.

Household electrical equipment, including vape pens, containing plastics, circuit boards and batteries can be recycled. A national electricals recycling locator has been established by Material Focus to guide householders to their nearest electrical recycling point.

No specific assessment has been made of the numbers of vape pens that go to landfill, however, the government plans to consult on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations later this year. Those reforms will seek to address the estimated 155,000 tonnes of small electricals discarded annually in residual waste.