Waitrose says it has stopped selling single-use vaping products because of their impact on the environment and over concerns for the health of young people.

Popularity for e-cigarettes has soared in the last few years with an estimated 4 million people in the country now regularly vaping - up from 800,000 a decade ago.

But the retailer - owned by the John Lewis Partnership - said it has decided to not stock the single-use throw away products and has also removed two other types of e-cigarette from sale.

The move has been prompted by both concerns that plastics and valuable lithium contained in the vapes is regularly ending up in landfill alongside fears that the devices are becoming hugely appealing to young people.

Research, says the company, suggests that many of those now fuelling their popularity have never smoked but have been attracted to vaping by the bright colours and sweet soft drink and dessert-based flavours that separate e-cigarettes from traditional cigarettes containing tobacco.

It remains illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be sold a vaping product. And while Waitrose says it has 'robust controls' in place under its Challenge 25 policy, to ensure the vapes aren't sold to anyone under age, commercial director Charlotte Di Cello said this was about the company doing 'the right thing'.
She added: "We are a retailer driven by doing the right thing, so selling single use vapes is not something we could justify given the impact on both the environment and the health of young people.

"We had already decided it wasn't right to stock the fashionable bright coloured devices which are seeing rapid growth - so this decision is the final jigsaw piece in our clear decision not to be part of the single use vaping market."

According to a report last year by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) 18- to 24-year-olds were the biggest vaping consumers in 2022, at 11 - up from 5% the year before.