Vaping and e-cigarettes
Welcome to our briefing on vaping and e-cigarettes.
- E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid into a vapour, which is then inhaled by the user. Liquids often contain nicotine and other chemicals, including flavourings mixed with a carrier
liquid of propylene glycol or glycerine. - There is a wide range of devices, rechargeable and refillable open systems like tank devices and vape pens, small rechargeable closed systems which require ‘pods’ containing the e-liquid, and disposable ecigarettes (single use non-rechargeable and non-refillable).
- Most e-cigarettes are composed of a battery, parts which turn the e-liquid into vapour, outer casing made of metal or plastic and a reservoir containing the e-liquid. Many types of e-cigarette include other electrical components such as small LED displays.
Nicotine
In the UK, the maximum nicotine concentration allowed is 20mg/ml (2%), the maximum volume of e-liquid is 2ml, or 10ml in a refill bottle. 2ml of e-liquid equates to around 500-700 puffs.
The number of puffs in an e-cigarette is equivalent to around 40 cigarettes, however the amount of nicotine content is below a pack of cigarettes. Several factors, including the type of nicotine (salt and freebase), can significantly impact how much nicotine is absorbed.
Disposable e-cigarettes come in attractive colours and sweet and fruity flavours, increasing their attractiveness to young people and children.
"The technology, design and range of products is rapidly evolving"
These tank devices enable users to specify almost every part of the experience, including e-liquid formulation and battery power.
E-cigarettes as cessation tools
- 60% of people who smoke who try to quit smoking don’t use anything to aid their quit attempts. The Scottish Health survey reported whether people use aids, and what aids they use to support them stopping smoking. 25% of people use Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) such as gum, patches and lozenges. 21% of people use e-cigarettes when trying to quit.
- E-cigarettes can help individuals quit smoking, however there remain questions about their effectiveness for cessation at the population level relative to existing quitting methods.
- A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (Cochrane review), found that e-cigarettes were marginally more successful in helping people quit. However, the data shows that neither are very effective. E-cigarettes helped 10 out of 100 people quit and NRT 6 out of 100.
- As noted, these are quits under clinical trial conditions running between 6 to 12 months. A study looking at the real-world effectiveness of e-cigarettes and NRT for cessation, with a follow-up of 12 months, did not find a significant effect for either.
- Seeking (free) cessation support from the NHS Quit Your Way services, can increase quit chance three to four times.
- A major systematic review found that at population level, never or non-smokers who use e-cigarettes are around three times more likely to initiate smoking, some evidence shows that people who smoke who have quit using e-cigarettes may be more likely to relapse, there is limited evidence that in clinical context, e-cigarettes are more successful than NRT or usual care, and there is insufficient evidence that (freebase nicotine) e-cigarettes are effective for quitting outside clinical levels.
E-cigarette prevalence in adults
Scottish Health Survey
E-cigarette use prevalence increased to 10% in 2022, following a period of 5 years at 7%.
Scottish Health Survey figures
Between 2019 and 2022, e-cigarette use tripled among young adults (16-24) from 5% to 15%, and doubled among 25-34 year olds from 6% to 13%.
Changes in older age groups were much smaller. There was a notable increase among young women (16-24) between 2019 and 2022 (a 5-fold increase, from 3% to 16%) In contrast, to a doubling among young men, to 15%.
Deprivation figures
E-cigarette use prevalence is 2.5 higher among the most deprived quintile (SIMD1) at 14%, compared to the least deprived (SIMD5) at 6%. Dual use is five times more common in SIMD1 (5%) compared to SIMD5 (1%).
Are young people using e-cigarettes?
Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census
Latest figures from the Scottish Government's Health and Wellbeing Census 21/22 indicate that 10.1% of 15 year olds and 4.3% of 13 year olds report using e-cigarettes regularly.
This is a significant increase from the 2018 SALSUS which showed regular vaping by 15 year olds at 3% and 13 year olds at 2%.
YouGov Survey
According to a 2022 YouGov survey, occasional and regular use of e-cigarettes amongst 11-17 year olds UK wide has doubled from the previous year. the same survey also showed that 40.1% those who used e-cigarettes had never smoked tobacco.
Other studies
According to another UK wide study comparing data between January 2021 and April 2022, vaping prevalence among 18 year olds increased by 56% during that period. This coincided with a more than 100-fold increase in the use of disposable e-cigarettes among 18 year olds from 0.4% to 54.8%.
Government policies around marketing, advertising and sales to children have been identified as contributing to differences in vaping uptake, along with the influence of peers and family.
Find more info on young people and vaping
E-cigarettes and the environment
While the environmental damage caused by plastic cigarette filters is well documented, e-cigarettes pose potentially graver environmental threats due to their material composition. The environmental cost of production and waste associated with e-cigarettes – disposable vapes in particular – is a cause for concern.
Some e-cigarettes contain enough toxic chemicals that they qualify as hazardous waste. When littered or improperly discarded, devices can leach heavy metals (including mercury, lead and bromines), battery acid, lithium and nicotine into the environment.
Packaging instructions on how to dispose of e-cigarettes is often absent or unclear and most producers and retailers do not provide advice on how to recycle these devices.
A report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (July 2022) calculated that two disposable vapes are thrown away every second in the UK. Over a year, this is enough lithium to make about 1200 electric car batteries.
A report from Zero Waste Scotland estimates that there is between 21 and 26 million disposable vapes used in Scotland each year.
Zero Waste Scotland estimated that somewhere between 721,000 and 2,787,800 disposable vapes were littered in Scotland in 2022. Even those that aren't littered are most often (43%) discarded in a general waste bin, which poses potential fire risks for waste managers.
How should I dispose of an e-cigarette?
E-cigarettes should be disposed of with electrical waste. If batteries come out safely, they should be disposed of at battery collection points. If take-back schemes are available, they can be returned to the shop or online retailer where the products were bought.
In the UK, e-cigarette waste falls under The Waste Battery and Accumulator Regulations 2009 and Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations 2013. Under WEEE regulations, all retailers selling e-cigarettes must provide a free in-store take-back service, set up an alternative free take-back service or join the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS).
It's not just for environmental reasons that vapes should be disposed of properly. Material Focus found that in 2022, there were 700 battery related waste fires caused by batteries hidden inside electrical devices such as vapes.
To find where to recycle your used vapes, click the button below
You can download PDF files (including references) of the 'Vaping and e-cigarettes' factsheet.
