This comes after 30,000 vapes were seized in a raid on a Sheffield shop.
Working with South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield Trading standards carried out over 100 inspection visits to local businesses and found many to be selling illegal brands.
Sheffield City councillor Joe Otten said: ‘These illegal vapes can be dangerous for a number of reasons they can have higher concentrations than the permitted levels of nicotine, along with other chemical which are illegal because they’re not regulated’.
There are also the risks that come with the batteries of illegal disposable vapes.
Mr Otten said: ‘Of course they have batteries they can explode which can be a hazard as well’.
‘What we don’t want is lots of batteries in the black bin waste because they cause fires, they can cause fires in the bin lorries, they can cause fires at the incinerators.’
‘If there a fire in the area where the waste is collected beforehand that can shut the incinerator down, huge problem.’
Mr Otten addressed the issues of illegal vapes in the hands of younger people, under the age of 18, revealing shops will lose their license at business should they sell to under 18s,
However, he admits they must remain on their toes to prevent any illegal trading involving smoking and vaping.
‘We just have to stay on top of things, sometimes these traders will pop up, previously reputable businesses may be visited by organised criminals being told they can make a lot of money selling these why don’t you do it?’
‘They’ll go around, so we’ll just have to keep up with it and there’s a bit of an arms race of their methods and how we can detect them and how we can stop them.’
