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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vaping products were registered with the Environment Agency; how much was received by Government in UK WEEE Regulations Compliance Fees for vaping products; and if he will make an estimate of how many vaping products were (a) recycled and (b) incorrectly disposed of in each of the last five years.

Vape producers need to register with the Environment Agency under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations and report the tonnage of vapes that they place on the market each year. Prior to 2022, vapes were not reported at a product specific level; they were reported as Category 7 EEE, which encompasses all Toys, Leisure, and Sports Equipment. Therefore, within the data the Environment Agency received from registered producers, it is not possible to identify the types of products that a company handles and thus it is not possible to determine how many vaping products were reported as being placed on the market.

For 2022 and 2023, the Environment Agency requested Compliance Schemes in England to submit data on the tonnage of vapes that their producer members placed on the market. For 2022, the total is 1,637 tonnes. The 2023 data is pending. Producers that register directly with the Environment Agency rather than with Compliance Schemes still include vapes within their Category 7 data, meaning the Environment Agency does not collect or hold vape specific data for direct registrants.

The Government does not hold detailed data on compliance fee payments under the UK WEEE Regulations, as this is managed independently of government. Compliance fee payments are broken down by categories, laid down in the WEEE Regulations and not by individual product level.

Treatment sites that recycle WEEE submit recycling data to the Environment Agency. This data is also not product specific and thus it is not possible to determine how many vaping products have been recycled. The Environment Agency does not collect or hold data on incorrect disposal of vapes.