'At least 500' disposable vapes chucked away on Scots beauty spot spark outcry

Jan 29, 2024

Images show the shocking scale of single-use vapes pollution at Irvine Beach, North Ayrshire, after days of scorching weather.

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At least 500 disposable vapes were thrown away on a single Scots beach last week amid the scorching weather, causing a litter nightmare and threatening marine life.

Local litter-pickers collected 150 discarded e-cigs in just 24 hours over the weekend at Irvine Beach, North Ayrshire.

The shocking scale of single-use vapes litter at the shoreline - on the same week it scooped a prestigious Scots beach award - has devastated residents and was met with outrage by campaigners.

They said it reinforced the call repeatedly made by the Record through our Bin The Vapes campaign to outlaw these polluting disposable gadgets.

Clean-up teams including volunteers and council workers hauled huge volumes of rubbish off the beach on Sunday including drinks containers, rubbish, clothing and more than 100 towels.

One volunteer group, the Irvine Clean Up Crew, took away a staggering 78 bags of litter as scores of irresponsible beachgoers left the place a mess.

Dr Jen Pless, chairwoman of the clean-up group, told the Record: "There are obviously very sensible people that will take everything home with them and that's fantastic.

"But there are also so many people that think that they can leave everything behind. And yesterday we collected 78 bags off that beach - which is just not okay. It's really not."

And Dr Pless, a geologist, said disposable vapes had been rife among the litter.

She said: "I don't know how many I picked up the other day below the high tide mark which means they've been in the water overnight.

"They’re full of chemicals, they’ve got batteries in them, wiring, there's plastic - and then there's all the packaging they come in as well, the foil wrapper and the cardboard on top of that.

"It's everywhere - absolutely everywhere.

"There were points yesterday where I would literally stand on one spot and I could pick 10 disposable vapes up from around me on the ground."

She collected so many - filling up an industrial yellow bucket with vapes - that she had to half-fill a second bin.

Dr Pless added: "I counted 150 yesterday in my buckets of doom, as I’m calling them."

Asked how many in total she had collected over the last week, she replied: "Hundreds and hundreds. At least 500, I would say."

Horrendous images taken by the group highlight the scale of the e-cigs waste at the beach.

As well as being hazardous to wildlife, enough precious lithium is thrown away in the 138million single-use vapes discarded every year in the UK to power 2500 electric cars.

Leading Scots campaigner Laura Young - dubbed the "vape crusader" for her awareness-raising on the issue - said the photos showed the "blight" of disposable e-cigs.

She said: "This litter-picked haul shows the sheer number of these devices chocking up our environment, and putting in this case marine environments at risk.

"We must see an end to single-use disposable electronic devices which continue to fuel the destructive throwaway culture we've created in pursuit of a more sustainable circular economy."

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay said: "It's ridiculous - and we’re going to see that pattern continue over the course of the summer as people flock to these beauty spots.

"The message should always be the same regardless of what litter it is - take it home with you and dispose of it appropriately.

"We need to make sure that people know how and where they can dispose of their vapes so that beaches, parks and other other spots are not being spoiled by them."

Catherine Gemmell, Scotland Conservation Officer for the Marine Conservation Society added: "With the volunteers finding so many so close to the sea we are extremely concerned about the impact they could have on local marine habitats and wildlife."

A North Ayrshire Council spokesman said: "We’re delighted to see so many visitors enjoy our beautiful beaches but it's always disappointing to see any litter left behind.

"Our Streetscene team work alongside the dedicated volunteers at Irvine Clean-up Crew to keep the area looking its best and we’ve supplied more bins along our beaches to cope with the increased number of visitors.

"As the warm weather is predicted to continue in the days ahead, we ask visitors to please be considerate of others by using the bins provided, or bag up and take your litter with you."

Heather McLaughlin, Campaign Co-ordinator at Keep Scotland Beautiful, added: "There are thousands of volunteer litter pickers, like members of the Irvine Clean Up Crew, one of our Clean Up Hubs, helping us clean up our environment.

"But we’re increasingly hearing from these dedicated volunteers that a new and unnecessary litter item is increasingly being found, an item that doesn't need to exist – the single-use vape.

"I’d like to thank them for the massive effort they are putting in to removing these items from our beaches, parks and open spaces.

"Not only a waste of precious resources, single-use vapes are made of mixed materials which don't break down and are difficult to recycle."

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