Waitrose Ditches Disposables

According to several news outlets the UK Supermarket Waitrose is to stop selling disposable vapes…

Articles about this…

The Guardian – Waitrose stops selling single-use vaping products.

Daily Mail – Waitrose stops selling single-use vaping products due to impact on the environment and health of young people.

Yahoo News – Waitrose stops selling single-use vaping products.

I wonder if this had anything to do with the decision?

@EoECoop @Tesco @sainsburys @asda @waitrose @AldiUK @LidlGB @Morrisons please ban the sale of these disposable vape in your stores. https://t.co/4WMFei380D

— John Riley (@johnecohound) September 27, 2022

Quoted in the news articles, Waitrose commercial director Charlotte Di Cello says…

“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.”

I have not seen anything official from Waitrose about this but looking on their shopping site it does appear to be true.

There are still the heated tobacco sticks “Heets“, Juul devices / pods, Vuse pods, e-liquid and Blu pods for sale but no disposables.

I wonder if this is the beginning of large retailers rebelling against disposables? Time will tell!

Responses

As you can guess this has had mixed reactions on Twitter…

… but they’ll continue to sell a wide range of cigarettes. https://t.co/xFVgP716Wm

— Martin C (@NannyFreeState) December 31, 2022

Congratulations to @waitrose for banning disposable vapes because of underage people using them.

1) i don’t see many kids shopping at Waitrose

2) let them buy cigarettes instead

3) thanks, it will boost my business for adults.

— Squire Vape Co (@squirevapeco) December 31, 2022

Brilliant stuff from @waitrose. At a time when the reasons to phase out single use plastics have never been clearer, the fact that the relatively new disposable vape has been allowed to gain a foothold in main stream retailers is a massive oversight of Government. Don’t buy them pic.twitter.com/YHKKZ0O2ET

— Alasdair Hankinson (@AlasdairHankins) December 31, 2022