Disposable vapes are being found in rivers, harming animals and using up rare materials, a campaigner has warned.

Environmentalist Tony Harwood from Maidstone has launched a petition calling on the government to ban the sale of disposable vapes because he claims they are destroying the environment.

He says the explosion in the use of fashionable single-use disposable vapes has resulted in a huge problem of discarded vapes littering our towns.

He said: "I've been doing litter picks for years, but recently there has just been a mega-increase in the number of discarded vapes, especially after a Friday or Saturday night.

"Vaping has become a part of going out for many youngsters.

"Virtually everyone in the pubs and clubs now seems to be sucking on a disposable vape - the revellers, the staff and the DJs."

Disposable vapes consist of a plastic pod, filled with juice that contains nicotine.

When the user draws on the vape a heating element powered by the lithium battery vaporises the juice.

When the juice is used up, the plastic, the heating element and the battery are all discarded.

Each vape contains a battery that commonly includes 0.15g of lithium, one of the world's rarest metals.

The amount may sound tiny, but a recent survey commissioned by Material Focus, the not-for-profit group behind the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, found that 18% of people had bought a vape in the previous year, with 7% buying a single-use device. The research suggested that about 168 million disposable vapes are being bought in the UK each year, which means that around 10 tonnes of the precious metal is ending up in landfills.

Mark Miodownik is a professor of materials and society at University College, London. He has previously said: "I don't think people realise that when they throw away a vape they are throwing away electronics and large amount of lithium, which is absolutely essential to fuel the green economy and move away from fossil fuels. It's in our lap-tops, our mobile phones and our electric cars."

The investigation by Materials Focus earlier this year found the lithium being discarded each year was enough to make 1200 electric car batteries.

Then there is the plastic. Mr Harwood said: "Disposable vapes are quickly becoming the mother of all single-use plastics."

He said: "I first started to find disposable vapes dumped in local streets and parks last Christmas, but recently their popularity has surged and they are being discarded on an industrial scale.

"I have found discarded vapes floating in the Rivers Medway and Len in Maidstone and on the strand-line at Hythe and Sheerness."

The single-use disposable vapes are marketed as being the equivalent of a pack of 20 cigarettes, but Mr Harwood claims they will prove far more damaging to the environment.

He said: "Their legacy will last for centuries and their ubiquity will only increase as they become still more fashionable.

"As well as the profound environmental impact, there is also an animal welfare consideration.

He said: "The fruit and saliva odour exuded by discarded vapes attracts dogs and foxes which search them out and chew them.

"The rubber caps, which are also widely discarded, are small enough to block the airways of unfortunate animals."

Any residual nicotine is also harmful to them.

RSPCA Scientific Officer Evie Button said: “Our staff deal with thousands of incidents every year where animals have been impacted by litter - and they’re the ones that we know of. I’m sure for every animal we’re able to help there are many that go unseen, unreported and may even lose their lives. "

Mr Harwood has lodged an online public petition with the government calling for a ban on the sale of disposable vapes.

If it achieves a 10,000 signatures, the government will be obliged to give a formal response. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, there will be a debate on the issue in Parliament.

Mr Harwood said: "I am determined that my campaign to ban the sale of disposable vapes becomes a national crusade to stamp out the mother of all single-use plastics."

In the UK, the legal age to purchase vapes is 18, but it is not illegal for children under 18 to smoke them.

Terry Utting runs TJ's E-cigarettes and Vapes, a chain of 13 shops across Kent. He said: "We've have just started offering a recycling service to our customers, about two weeks go.

"They can bring in their old vapes and we will dispose of them safely. As far as I know we are the first shop to do that. There is a problem. There are obviously thousands of these vapes being thrown away and they all end up at the bottom of a landfill site otherwise."

Mr Utting encourages his customers to return used vapes by giving them a stamp on a loyalty card for each four they bring back. He confirmed that disposable vapes were increasing in popularity.

He said: "That's where the market is going at the moment. Although these things tend to go in cycles."

Mr Utting enforces a strict policy of not selling to children. He said: "We ask for ID from anyone who looks under 25. But we do occasionally have problems with shoplifting by children.

"They run in, grab some vapes and run out."

Research by ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) suggests that schoolchildren are increasingly using vapes. In 2020, 4% of children told the charity they used vapes. This year, that figure rose to 7%, while the number of schoolchildren admitting to to trying a vape had increased to 16%.

The charity is so concerned it has recently issued new guidelines to schools on the issue.

Deborah Arnott, the charity's chief executive, said: "Vaping is not for children and while it can help people quit smoking, if you don’t smoke, you shouldn’t vape.

"However, nearly all children who are vaping regularly, are very likely to also be smoking, which is much more harmful and much more addictive.

“If you’re a smoker using vapes to help you quit, that’s great, just don’t use disposables. They are single use plastics which contain batteries – a double whammy as it makes them very hard to recycle.

"Vaping is not for children and while it can help people quit smoking, if you don’t smoke, you shouldn’t vape..."

"Disposables are an environmental nightmare as they are just being thrown in the rubbish and are ending up in landfill.”

Mr Harwood agreed. He said: "The market now seems to be actively targetting children, with multiple coloured containers, and multiple childish flavours like chocolate and bubblegum. But these still contain nicotine. You can see children puffing on vapes outside nearly every school. We are getting a whole new generation hooked on nicotine."

Mr Harwood said: "The problem seems to have slipped in under most people's radar, but there is a public health crisis in the offing."

The Material Focus website offers a postcode locator to find your nearest vape recycling point, click here.

Discarded vapes can be disposed off safely at any KCC Household Waste Recycling Centre - there are 19 in Kent including at Dartford, Chatham, Gillingham and Maidstone.