Environmental Protection Act 1990: The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Direction 2025

1. Title, coming into force and application

(1) The title of this Direction is the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Direction 2025. 

(2) This Direction comes into force on 20 June 2025.

2. Interpretation

In this Direction—

• “appeal” (“ ”) means an appeal under a paragraph mentioned in paragraph 32 (S.I. 2024/1324 (W. 233).) of the Schedule to the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Regulations 2024;
• “authorised treatment facility” (“ ”) has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the WEEE Regulations;
• “enforcement officer” (“ ”) has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Regulations 2024;
• “exporter” (“ ”) has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the WEEE Regulations;
• “regulator” (“ ”) has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Regulations 2024;
• “the WEEE Regulations” (“ ”) means the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/3113. There are amendments that are not relevant to this Direction.);
• “waste management organisation” (“ ”) means an authorised treatment facility, or an exporter.

3. Single-use vapes to be treated as waste

Regulators must treat, as waste, single-use vapes which meet the definition specified in regulation 12(2) of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Regulations 2024.

4.  Disposal of single-use vapes

Regulators must take the following steps in relation to the single-use vapes referred to in paragraph 3, which are retained by an enforcement officer—

(a) to ensure that they are sent to a waste management organisation for disposal; and

(b) to ensure that the waste management organisation tasked with the disposal uses the best available treatment recovery and recycling techniques, in accordance with regulation 31 of the WEEE Regulations.

5. Exhaustion of appeal rights

Regulators may not dispose of single-use vapes under paragraph 4 until any right of appeal conferred in relation to the offence under the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Wales) Regulations 2024 is exhausted, or the period for bringing that appeal has ended without an appeal being brought.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs

One of the Welsh Ministers

20 June 2025