Single-use Vapes - Post-Adoption Statement

6. The measures decided concerning monitoring

97. Section 19 of the 2005 Act requires the Scottish Government, as the responsible authority, to monitor significant environmental effects of the implementation of the Plan.

98. It is not necessary to monitor everything or monitor an effect indefinitely. Instead, as noted in the SEA guidance^[31], it is “practical to make a clear link between the significant effects predicted within an assessment and the indicators selected to monitor the likely environmental effects”.

99. The ban will aim to remove single-use vapes from Scottish society. It is expected that alternative reusable vapes may replace those removed from the market. Whilst the ban is expected to deliver positive impacts, the Scottish Government should undertake ongoing monitoring exercises to assess how society responds to the ban and whether reusable alternatives replace those under the ban, or if alternative behaviours emerge across society. It was recommended that both environmental and human health impacts are monitored alongside trends in sales and consumer behaviours.

100. The Environmental Report recommended that the following indicators should be measured as part of the ongoing monitoring of the ban:

• Sales of reusable vape devices;
• Sales of reusable vape refills;
• Sales of cigarettes;
• Estimates of illegal sales of single-use vapes including shipments seized;
• Number of adult vape users;
• Data on vape users e.g. age, location, smoker/non-smoker etc;
• Number of underage vape users;
• Enforcement data on recorded incidents of breach of regulations;
• Frequency of single-use vapes in ground litter;
• Frequency of refill containers and reusable vape related litter items;
• Public perceptions of vape related litter.
• Monitoring of these aspects can help to answer questions such as:
• Were the Environmental Report assessments of effects accurate?
• Are there any unforeseen adverse effects? Are these within acceptable limits, or is remedial action desirable?

101. For the environmental topics considered, monitoring will be beneficial to assess the success of the ban. The monitoring exercise can also be used to identify opportunities for the Scottish Government to provide further support, or incentive, to adopt alternative and more circular behaviours such as the increased reuse of items.

102. In order to understand the impact of these market restrictions and to permit the Scottish Government to respond over time, the following measures will be considered:

103. Monitoring of Market Practices through existing public sector, business and retailer engagement channels, monitoring of these elements will identify how businesses and consumers are responding to the ban. This data will also highlight demand for alternative reusable products, and provide market insight on consumer behaviour post implementation.

104. The Scottish Government will implement these measures as part of a monitoring framework for the market restrictions, that will include an evaluation on implementation of the ban and associated impacts.