Committee
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee 03 September 2024
03 Sep 2024 · S6 · Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 [Draft]
The deputy convener has some questions. 10:45
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Welcome back to the meeting. I apologise for the fact that we are running a wee bit late, as another item was added to the agenda earlier. However, if peopl...
The Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy (Gillian Martin)
SNP
I will keep it brief, convener. Thank you for the invitation to give you evidence this morning. We want to ban the sale and supply of single-use vapes in or...
The Convener
Con
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Jackie Dunbar has the first question.
Jackie Dunbar
SNP
Good morning, cabinet secretary. My first question has probably been answered, but is there anything further that you wish to add as to why the Scottish Gove...
Gillian Martin
SNP
We want to take single-use vapes—or disposable vapes, as they are better known—out of the economy altogether. For a number of reasons, there is no ability to...
Jackie Dunbar
SNP
It is vital that we separate the single-use vapes from the vaping products that are used as a smoking cessation tool. I am a former smoker who used to use va...
Gillian Martin
SNP
No. If we were to put in place a requirement for local authorities to collect and recycle these types of disposable vapes, that would be the cost of it. They...
Jackie Dunbar
SNP
I am sorry; I picked that up wrong, and I apologise. Do we know the current cost to local authorities of single-use vapes?
Gillian Martin
SNP
I am not sure whether it is quantifiable, so I will look to my officials.
David McPhee (Scottish Government)
I do not have the exact figure for the recycling point, but what we know from our impact assessment is—
Jackie Dunbar
SNP
Sorry, I just want an overall figure.
David McPhee
At the moment, most of them are dealt with through residual waste, because that is where they are put. Most of the disposable vapes are not being recycled, a...
Jackie Dunbar
SNP
Thank you, convener. I appreciate that.
The Convener
Con
Thank you, Jackie. I have a few questions, but I will make an observation first. Cabinet secretary, it was interesting that you said that disposable vapes ar...
Gillian Martin
SNP
There are a number of things in there. All four nations have tried to engineer the regulations to future proof them to make sure that the definition that was...
The Convener
Con
In relation to rechargeable and reusable vapes, vapes that allow one refill before becoming useless could be cheaper than ones that can be refilled numerous ...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I am not entirely familiar with reusable devices that would work only a couple of times. It seems to me that, if you were going to invest in something of a c...
The Convener
Con
I do not know. All that I am saying is that, if you can get a vape with a cheap battery that can be recharged a couple of times or one with an expensive batt...
David McPhee
Carolyn Boyd might want to come in, too, because she is closer to the regulations. I confirm again that we have worked closely with people in trading standa...
The Convener
Con
My point is that, with computer printers, for example, we went through a stage when it was cheaper to buy a new printer than it was to buy the ink cartridges...
Gillian Martin
SNP
We need to be alive to any kind of modifications that there could be to things that are on the market. As I have said, the four nations have worked together ...
The Convener
Con
Mark Ruskell has a follow-up question, and then it might be appropriate to bring in Carolyn Boyd if she wants to come in.
Mark Ruskell
Green
If manufacturers could bring the price of rechargeable vapes down to the same price as disposable vapes, would people not just buy rechargeable ones but cont...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I think that taxing the devices was considered as an option. Zero Waste Scotland’s scoping report looked at the options for managing the environmental impact...
Mark Ruskell
Green
I absolutely welcome that. I suppose that it is a question of whether we trust the vaping industry, given where it has been and what it has developed into, t...
Gillian Martin
SNP
In its consultation, the UK Government included a proposal to introduce a duty on all vapes. I am trying to think whether that was a pre-general election com...
The Convener
Con
The deputy convener has some questions. 10:45
Ben Macpherson
SNP
On the points that have just been made, we will also need to keep an eye on what the European Union does in this space, because when that huge market begins ...
Gillian Martin
SNP
Yes.
Ben Macpherson
SNP
Over the summer, when I was out and about in my constituency, I talked to a lot of small businesses about a variety of issues. The convener said that he had ...