Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I welcome the following officials from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: Tommy McNamara, head of branch, extended producer responsibility team; Stephen Clegg, policy adviser on vapes and waste electricals; and Denise Donald, policy adviser on vapes. I ask you to brief the Committee.

Mr Tommy McNamara (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Good morning, Chair and members. Thank you for the opportunity to brief the Committee on the draft Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. The Department's intention is to ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes — sometimes referred to as disposable vapes — in Northern Ireland in order to reduce the environmental harm caused by the huge number of vapes that are landfilled, incinerated and littered.

Three main policy objectives underpin the draft statutory rule: to reduce the environmental harm caused by the incorrect disposal of single-use vapes by reducing the number of vapes that are in residual waste streams and that are being littered; to stop the supply of single-use vapes and encourage their replacement with reusable alternatives, thereby supporting a switch to less environmentally harmful products; and to progress a reduction in sales of single-use vapes, leading to their eventual removal from the domestic market.

Single-use vapes are products that cannot be recharged or refilled or contain a coil that cannot be replaced. In contrast, a reusable vape can be recharged and fully refilled an unlimited number of times and utilises a coil that can be replaced by the average user.

The draft legislation is separate from the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that the UK Government recently introduced that is primarily targeted at reducing the use of tobacco and vapes for health reasons. Although the draft statutory rule is based on the reduction of environmental harm, DAERA officials have kept the Department of Health updated on the progress of the legislation.

The prevalence of single-use vapes has increased substantially in recent years, with 360 million single-use vapes being sold in the UK in 2023. It is estimated that 10 million of those were sold in Northern Ireland. According to Action on Smoking and Health, an independent health charity, single-use vapes accounted for 31% of the types of vapes used in 2023, which is a huge increase from 2·3% in 2021. That figure continues to rise.

The Department does not propose a total ban on the supply of vapes but simply on the supply of single-use vapes. It is not a statement on people's lifestyle choices or their exercising of their choice to vape per se. It has to be recognised, however, that a single-use vape is manufactured to be thrown away. The resources used to make single-use vapes, including critical raw materials such as cadmium, copper and lithium, could be better used in the manufacture of other products. As single-use vapes are single-use items and are not reused or, predominantly, recycled, the value of those materials is lost. For example, lithium is used in the creation of batteries for electric vehicles. The lithium lost through the incorrect disposal of single-use vapes in the UK could be used to manufacture 5,000 electric vehicle batteries every year. For Northern Ireland, that equates to 140 electric vehicle batteries. Of the five million single-use vapes that are thrown away every week in the UK, it is estimated that, due to the cost and complexity of doing so, only 1% are recycled. Batteries from single-use vapes and other electrical items that were disposed of in residual waste instead of being recycled were responsible for approximately 1,200 battery fires in bin lorries and at waste sites last year. Batteries can be crushed in bin lorries and recycling centres, causing them to spark and catch fire, which damages collection vehicles and waste processing sites. We must aim to move away from single-use vapes.

The incorrect disposal of this single-use plastic item is a UK-wide problem, and the four UK Governments are working together to ensure that, from 1 June 2025, there is a joined-up approach across the jurisdictions. In the UK, 73% of users say that they dispose of single-use vapes by simply throwing them away. That equates to approximately 140,000 single-use vapes being thrown away each week in Northern Ireland, which, apart from causing littering and disposal issues, leads us far from the circular economy that we are all trying to build. Due to their incorrect disposal, single-use vapes can lead to environmental externalities at end-of-life treatment, such as soil pollution through the leakage of hazardous substances when they are landfilled or greenhouse gas emissions when they are incinerated. The littering of single-use vapes costs public money to clean up and imposes other costs on society, including visual pollution and environmental harm. The materials in single-use vapes can lead to dangerous chemicals entering the environment by leaching into soil, groundwater and waterways.

Executive approval to introduce legislation to tackle the environmental impact of single-use vapes by means of a ban was secured in March 2024. DAERA has consulted on the policy proposal as part of a UK-wide consultation and published the draft regulations in 'The Belfast Gazette'. We also provide an input into the UK impact assessments while working very closely with the other UK Governments to align our policies. We have laid the draft regulations before you today, in keeping with our commitments.

Once made, the legislation will ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes in the course of businesses in Northern Ireland from 1 June 2025. That date was agreed by Ministers in each UK Government. The ban on single-use vapes will, therefore, be effective UK-wide from 1 June 2025.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you so much. That was very good. There were some interesting stats in there, particularly on the potential, although we will probably waste the opportunity, to recycle the lithium for use in batteries for electric vehicles and stuff. It is quite startling to think of that going into unmanaged waste and the problems that that will create.

I have one question, and then I will invite questions from members. It is widely expected that the ban will be enforced by existing council environmental health protection officers, and it has been touted that any additional cost of enforcement will be better understood as it is being implemented. Why has that not been bottomed out and scaled in advance? Has any engagement taken place with local councils to that effect, and, if so, what has been the feedback?

Mr McNamara: As you are aware, it is a UK Government-driven priority to ban single-use vapes, and the four UK Governments are acting in unison to do it from a specific date. We have been constrained by time, and that is primarily why we have not got the enforcement regime bottomed out yet, as you correctly said. However, we are in discussions with councils and with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) to establish an effective and efficient regime. We are confident that it will be in place by 1 June 2025.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you very much. I appreciate that assurance.

Mr McAleer: That 10 million single-use vapes are disposed of here each year is a startling statistic. There is an environmental impact from that, and, of course, a health impact. Given that the councils will be on the front line in enforcing the ban, will they be resourced or trained accordingly?

Mr McNamara: The resource issue is part of the discussions. One of the difficulties that we face is quantifying exactly what the cost resource will be, and we are going to have to rely on the councils to provide us with information on that. That will form part of the process, and, once we have some form of quantifiable data on what the cost will be, how the future funding will be provided will be discussed.

Mr McAleer: Is the legislation targeted at people who are selling single-use vapes or people who are in possession of them?

Mr McNamara: It is targeted specifically at supply in the course of a business. You have to be doing it by way of supply. That includes selling them or supplying them as part of a product giveaway or promotional campaign. It will not be unlawful to be in possession of one. Bringing one home with you from holiday, wherever that might be, will not be criminalised.

Mr McAleer: Finally, is there a danger that you could drive the provision of single-use vapes underground? What is the situation in the South of Ireland with legislation on single-use vapes?

Mr McNamara: To address your first point, there will always be a black market for products that are illegal to supply. The UK Government are looking at introducing legislation next year to ban imports and tackle online marketplaces for single-use vapes where the online seller is outside the UK. However, although we are aware of that, it is still at an early stage. It is a reserved matter, so we will not necessary be involved in it, although we will be kept up to date.

The Republic of Ireland is introducing legislation in 2025 to ban the supply, import and manufacture of single-use vapes in Ireland. We do not have a date yet. I do not think that the date on which they expect that legislation to come into effect has been published. That is the current situation.

Mr McAleer: Obviously, it would undermine us, in this jurisdiction, if the rules in both jurisdictions were not aligned.

Mr McNamara: Yes, I absolutely agree, but even if we are not totally aligned, the fact that Ireland expects to do this in 2025 means that any gap will be minimal.

Mr McAleer: They could be aligned around the same time.

Mr McNamara: They could well be. We just do not have that information.

Mr McGlone: I was just checking, and you can buy quite a lot of stuff online. First, what way will you regulate that? Secondly, you said that you met SOLACE.

Mr McNamara: We are in contact with SOLACE.

Mr McGlone: What does that mean?

Mr McNamara: It is written correspondence.

Mr McGlone: Oh, written. Have you not actually met face to face?

Mr McNamara: Not that I am aware of.

Mr McGlone: Has there been any conclusion to that written correspondence? Have any responses been received or did you write to it only recently?

Mr McNamara: No, the correspondence has been two-way. SOLACE has written to us and raised issues and concerns regarding funding. That seems to be one of the main issues that we will be talking about.

Mr McGlone: OK. Is that the principal or only issue?

Mr McNamara: I am not entirely sure.

Mr Stephen Clegg (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Funding and resourcing are the two issues.

Mr McNamara: Funding and resources are the two —.

Mr McGlone: It might be helpful if you could give us a synopsis of the issues that local government sees. Obviously, we can get that from our own councils, but it would be helpful to hear your take on it —

Mr McNamara: Well that is —.

Mr McGlone: — if that is all right.

Mr McNamara: Sorry to interrupt you there; I did not mean to.

Mr McGlone: You are grand.

Mr McNamara: From what I have seen, funding and resources are the issue. The cost of prosecuting a case was highlighted, and that is one of SOLACE's concerns, because it is not cheap.

Mr McGlone: Nor is any case taken by an environmental health department or a council generally.

Mr McNamara: That is one of the issues that we will be discussing with SOLACE.

Mr McGlone: That is one of the issues. It would be helpful — seriously — if we could get the principal issues.

Mr McNamara: That is primarily it, because the resourcing issue will also cover, if it comes to it —. I do not want to pre-empt what SOLACE will come to us with. If it says, "We need more resources for staff", the powers will exist under primary legislation that the Department will give them to carry out any investigative duties and that type of stuff.

Mr McGlone: You said that funding is one of the issues. I am just trying to get a handle on what the issues are.

Mr McNamara: I said "one of the issues", but I think that that is the issue.

Mr McGlone: You think or —?

Mr McNamara: There is nothing to stop SOLACE coming at a later stage. From what I have read so far, the issue was resources; that was it.

Mr McGlone: We can get a handle on that from SOLACE anyway. Thank you.

Miss McIlveen: Thank you for your presentation. In England, £30 million per year has been allocated for enforcement and to tackle the underage use of tobacco and vapes. That is a substantial amount of money, but they have also suggested that trading standards authorities will be involved in enforcement with local authorities. What will be the role for the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service?

Mr McNamara: At this point, we honestly do not know. That will come out of our discussions with SOLACE. We anticipate — we hope — that we can find a workable solution. Well, we think that we will find a workable solution with SOLACE and that it will undertake the investigative roles and carry out all the investigations and prosecutions etc. That will involve how and to whom that is allocated within the council, but I do not think that there is anything for the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service.

Miss McIlveen: Have you had a conversation with the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service on that?

Mr McNamara: No.

Miss McIlveen: Will the draft regulations that we are looking at today cover everything with regard to enforcement? Will there be any need to come back for separate regs?

Mr McNamara: There are certain deficiencies in the regulations that we know about, because, as part of the consultation, responses from local councils raised concerns about storage if vapes were to be seized from premises. In the English regulations, for example, there is a specific provision related to the disposal of vapes. We do not have that in ours at present, but we will have it. We will bring forward small amending legislation before 1 June, but the current position is that we will not be giving powers to councils to seize. We will put the onus on whomever is in possession of them — the supplier — to dispose of them by way of direction.

Certain small amendments will be required, so there will be additional legislation before June.

Miss McIlveen: I also see that, in England, there will be £5 million this year and £15 million per annum thereafter for a national marketing campaign. I also note that, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, devolved Ministers will have to find their own funding for that. Is there a plan to have a campaign in Northern Ireland? Will the burden of that fall to the DAERA budget, or, given that there are associated health issues, will it be a cross-departmental or Executive campaign?

Mr McNamara: I will ask my colleague Stephen to answer that.

Mr Clegg: We have started an initial conversation with Department of Health colleagues to understand their comms strategy. In DAERA, we have a comms strategy, which includes press releases and social media, and we are looking at the benefits of combining the messaging. As for the funding, we are still waiting on word, following the recent Budget announcement, of what portion we may or may not get and what that might make available to us.

Miss McIlveen: We could be in a place where regulations are going through but we have no budget to tell anybody about what is coming in.

Mr Clegg: Yes. That is certainly a concern.

Miss McIlveen: OK.

Mr Clegg: We are waiting to hear more on the Budget.

Mr McNamara: We will have a communications strategy, and we will use the resources available to us, such as our online resources, to implement that. When the regulations are laid, for example, we will issue a press release. We have those resources at our disposal and will utilise them to the best of our ability.

Ms Denise Donald (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): We are also drafting business guidance with all the UK nations. That will be rolled out through social media and on our website to give guidance to users, suppliers and businesses so that they will be prepared for legislation coming into force.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Does the unit in the Department have enough resource to do that in time to ensure that there is no lag in Northern Ireland vis-à-vis the rest of the UK regions and the Republic, given the stuff that is potentially coming through there?

Mr McNamara: We are stretched for resources, as is everybody, but we have enough to make sure that that will come in on time. It is a departmental priority as well as a UK governmental priority. The big, outstanding issue is the resource for enforcement, which we are confident that we will have in place by June.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I have one final question. I said that I would ask only one, but I have more. As you said at the start of your presentation, this is slightly separate from the Department of Health's drive to reduce or eradicate smoking by prohibiting sales. Is any mapping being done with the Department of Health? Have any crossovers been identified? Both strategies have benefits, but is there live interdepartmental work?

Mr McNamara: We keep the Department of Health apprised of what we are doing, but we have to be careful when it comes to laying legislation. We cannot take health concerns into consideration when we bring forward legislation, because they are outside the scope of the primary powers that allow us to do so. We are in contact with the Department of Health, however, and it is interested in what we are doing, because the legislation is part of the UK Government's position that was introduced under the previous Government. The disposable vapes issue was supposed to be part of the health agenda, but it was not, because the Bill was shelved at that point. That is why it has come through the environmental route. We keep in contact with the Health Department, but there is no mapping process per se.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): OK. Thank you very much for your presentation and for answering the questions.

Members, do you want to make any comment, or are you content? Patsy, you raised a question about SOLACE. We can pick that up with SOLACE and keep it live, if you are so minded.

Mr McGlone: OK. Thank you.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you very much.