Hazardous item banned from Glastonbury by festival organisers

Apr 27, 2023

1.3million of the devices are thrown away each week and have been banned from the festival

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Glastonbury Festival has urged the over 210,000 visitors descending on Somerset not to bring disposable vapes. Its organisers have added the items to its official "do not bring" list, four years after banning the sale of plastic bottles on-site.

Glastonbury organisers say: "Do not bring disposable vapes. They pollute the environment and can be hazardous at waste centres."

Estimates suggest about 1.3million disposable vapes are thrown away each week in the UK, powered by non-rechargeable lithium batteries. The vapes include the enormously popular Elf Bar and Lost Mary vapes, the latter Philip Schofield was seen puffing on during a recent interview.

Recycling companies are now processing so many vapes that they are struggling to insure their facilities due to the amount of fires caused by the devices. Some firms are even using artificial intelligence to detect vapes and their lithium-ion batteries.

In reaction to the ban, festival goers took to Twitter, with @BrettCowch joking: "Glastonbury banning me bringing in Lost Mary's for the environmental damage but have they considered the emotional damage I'll cause when I've gone 3 hours without a little fruity vape."

Recently, vapes have come under increasing scrutiny, especially with children taking up the habit. Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, has said it is: "Insidious these products are intentionally marketed and promoted to children."

Meanwhile, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) called for a ban on disposable vapes, saying: "Youth vaping is fast becoming an epidemic."

In a recent Financial Times report, they claim 14 percent of children aged between 14 and 17-years-old said they use vapes, more than once a week. In world first, New Zealand passed legislation in 2022 which sees those aged 14 and under – born on or after January 1, 2009 – banned from ever purchasing tobacco products.

On Glastonbury Festival's official website, they say not to bring the following items:

disposable vapes