California could ban the sale of disposable vapes under a bill lawmakers announced Wednesday that is aimed at curbing plastic pollution in the state.
The state has also passed laws in recent years banning single-use plastic bottles in hotels, the sale of Styrofoam food containers and single-use plastic carryout bags at grocery stores.
Vapes, sometimes called electronic cigarettes, are battery-operated devices that contain aerosolized nicotine or cannabis, often with flavorings and other chemicals. Refillable and disposable options are sold, and California's proposal would specifically tackle those that are meant to be thrown away after a single use.
Other countries have considered or approved bans on single-use vape sales, with one taking effect in Belgium on Jan. 1 and another set to begin in the United Kingdom in June. But California would likely be the first U.S. state to enact such a rule. Previous efforts in California and New York have failed.
The California bill would ban the sale or distribution of new or refurbished disposable vapes in the state, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. The proposal would allow local governments or the state to fine people $500 for their first violation of the ban, $1,000 for their second infringement and $2,000 for subsequent offenses.
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who authored the bill, said it will help prevent battery acid from single-use vapes from leaching into lands and waterways.
“We must transition away from these harmful single-use devices, and AB 762 will do just that,” the Southern California Democrat said at a news conference in Sacramento.
The California Grocers Association argued against a similar 2022 proposal, saying that it could lead to increased tobacco smuggling.
Arkan Somo, who co-founded the Neighborhood Market Association, a group of California small businesses, said the new bill would burden family-owned shops that sell tobacco products.
“If we're going to take the environment as an excuse to keep banning these products, where is that going to stop?” Somo said. “They're really putting California at a huge disadvantage.”
The state has approved other measures in recent years regulating vape sales. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2020 that banned the sale of most flavored tobacco products with the goal of preventing their use among children.
Many of the recent vape regulations in states have been targeted at addressing risks they pose to public health. California and more than 30 other states have passed laws requiring a tax on e-cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All states in the U.S. already ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
“While these products pollute our planet, they're also targeting our most vulnerable among us — our children,” said Tony Hackett, a policy associate with Californians Against Waste, a nonprofit group supporting the bill. “Disposable vapes are designed for maximum addiction and minimum accountability.”
Part of the appeal of disposable vapes is that they are often more easily accessible and cheaper than refillable devices, said Carolina Saavedra, a staff attorney with the Public Health Law Center at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Minnesota.
But waste from e-cigarettes can contain heavy metals, hazardous lithium-ion batteries that can spark fires and chemical toxins, according to the CDC. The California bill is an “exciting step” to tackle that problem, Saavedra said.
“Continuing to push this conversation and highlight the costliness of this problem and how little — if any — benefits at all these items bring, that's going to be huge,” she said.
