Environment Minister Andrew Muir said there was a strong support for the bad although he realises that the timeline is an ambitious one. He said that there had been an “alarming” rise in single use vapes not being disposed of correctly with around 5 million of the products being simply thrown away in the UK each week.

“Single use vape waste introduces plastic, nicotine salts, metals and lithium-ion batteries into the environment and can have a devastating impact on our environment and biodiversity.

“It’s estimated that as many as five million single use vapes are simply thrown away in residual bins or littered every week across the UK, rather than being recycled,” he said.

According to the BBC, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales have all come together to work on their own national legislation and have agreed to work towards a joint coming into force date of 1 April 2025.

In the 2023 UK government consultation, 90.4 per cent of individual respondents from Northern Ireland said they thought the sale and supply of single use vapes should be restricted while 84.9 per cent agreed there should be a ban, reports the BBC.

The plans to achieve a ban by April 2025, were heralded as a “huge win” for lung health by the Northern Ireland head of the Asthma + Lung UK charity, according to the BBC.