Disposable ban ‘meaningless’ without push to refillable vapes
NICOTINE products firm Imperial Brands has called on the UK Government to strengthen guidance on vapes to discourage consumers from disposing refillable vape devices.
The firm has said the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Guidance needs to strictly specify that Refills (pods or e-liquid refill bottles) must be separately and readily available for sale to consumers to buy in-store.
Further to this, Imperial has said that all refills must also be compatible with the reusable vaping devices that are being sold within the retail premises.
Deirdre Healy, Imperial Brand’s head of corporate & legal affairs for UK & Ireland, said: “The ban on disposable vapes is meaningless unless consumers also purchase vape pods separately and use multiple pods with the one reusable vape device.
“Otherwise, consumers are treating reusable devices as a one-use only device. It is also better value for consumers to buy pods separately and pop them on the reusable device rather than buy multiple reusable devices.
“We have 15 flavours in Blu vape pods available for sale throughout 35,000 retail outlets in the UK. We want the disposable vape ban to work. We want less electronic waste in the UK. We want consumers to use replaceable pods in their reusable vape devices.
“With the ban on disposable vapes still in its early stage, it remains important to continue to promote best practice use for consumers. This includes educating them to purchase pre-filled vape pods separately and use multiple pods with one reusable vape device.”
This follows on from online vape retailer, WizVape, stating that its customers continue to bulk-buy reusable devices and use them in the same manner as single-use vapes and warning about the impact these stronger batteries will have on the environenmt
Alongside this, Imperial has highlighted the pods as a better value option for customers that could also help to increase in-store loyalty for retailers.
The RRP of Imperial’s Blu Bar Kit and Blu Box Kit – which both include one device and one Blu pod each – is the same as a refill Blu pod pack, which contains two Blu pods, at an RRP of £5.99.
Healy said: “Retailers can benefit by delivering this value to shoppers. Proactively encouraging consumers to return to store and repurchase the pre-filled pods will help generate store loyalty and free up basket spend to purchase more.
“Ensuring consumers are also aware of the available vape pod flavour options will underpin sales activity. For example, the Blu vape range offers 15 flavours of Blu pods which are available for sale throughout 35,000 retail outlets in the UK and compatible with Blu Bar Kit and Blu Box Kit.”
