For Aberdeen litter picker Mike Scotland, disposable vapes were the most common item he would find on Granite City streets.
Mike began litter picking back in 2019 after he attempted to take his own life at a dumping ground.
Since then, he has become a well-known environmentalist in the city, as well as an advocate for mental health.
Mike heads out on litter picks with his family around Aberdeen three to four times every week. He prioritises areas like roadsides, local forests and parks, and surroundings schools and shops.
Disposable vapes, he tells me, were a “guarantee at the top of the list” as the most common find on his litter picks.
How bad was disposable vape littering in Aberdeen pre-ban?
On June 1 2025, a disposable vape ban came into force in Scotland – and across the UK.
Key figures in the fight were Dundee-based environmental campaigner Laura Young and groups like Ash Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Marine Conservation Society, who called for a ban back in 2022.
So has the disposable vape ban made a difference in Aberdeen since then?
We spoke to well-known Bucksburn litter-picker Mike to find out if there are less disposable vapes on our streets.
Disposable vapes are a smoke cessation tool often misused by young people who have never smoked cigarettes before.
When littered, the plastic shell of the disposable vape is wasted, as is the lithium battery.
If recycled incorrectly, the devices pose a threat of fire or explosions which put refuse workers at risk.
Mike adds: “For the past few years on my litter picks, I have seen disposable vapes on the rise.
“Every few bits of litter, there would most likely be a disposable vape.
“In a litter pick lasting a couple of hours, I pick over 1,000 pieces of litter.
Every seven or eight pieces of litter, Mike would find a disposable vape.
“So you’re looking at a good couple of hundred disposable vapes in a litter pick,” adds Mike, 33.
Has the ban reduced disposable vape littering in the Granite City?
Now, just over a month after the ban came into force in Scotland on June 1, there has been a “massive difference” to the volume of disposable vapes on Aberdeen streets, says Mike.
“They have almost completely disappeared,” he adds.
“I maybe find 20 on a litter pick now.
“That is seriously how big the drop has been – it has been drastic.
“They are now a rare occurrence in the scheme of things.
“Litter is always going to be an issue, but in terms of disposable vapes, there has been a massive reduction in the amount that I have found on litter picks. And I imagine it has probably been the same right across Scotland.”
Mike does admit that he has seen a “slight increase” in the volume of reusable and refillable vapes.
“It goes to show that it does actually work when [a ban] gets enforced properly,” he adds.
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