The U.K. government is ready to clear the air and the streets with new vape rules that promise to rid the market of illegal sellers once and for all.

As the BBC reported, the plan introduces digital tracking stamps, tougher enforcement powers, and steep penalties of up to £10,000 for rogue traders.

Under the new system, all vapes sold in the U.K. will soon be required to carry a digital stamp with a QR code that lets consumers and authorities instantly identify legitimate products. 

Illegal vapes will be seized at the border, while fully compliant retailers can begin registering for the new program in April before it becomes mandatory in the autumn. Businesses will have six months to sell any unstamped stock.

Alongside the proposed changes, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to limit advertising, sponsorship, and in-store displays.

For people who use vapes to quit smoking, the new rules aim to ensure safer, regulated products while discouraging the shady operators pushing potentially harmful devices. 

At the same time, the crackdown protects shoppers, especially teens, from dangerous counterfeit vapes containing unknown chemicals. But the impact goes far beyond regulation.

The vaping industry has grown quickly, and so have concerns about its environmental and health effects, particularly among young people.

Disposable vapes create a huge amount of waste. Each device contains single-use plastic, heavy metals, and a lithium battery that often ends up in the trash instead of a proper recycling stream. 

These tossed batteries can spark fires in waste facilities, while leaking chemicals contaminate soil and waterways. 

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While vaping may be less harmful than smoking, health experts warn that it is not risk-free, and young people who have never smoked are now picking up the habit because the products are cheap, colorful, and easy to access. 

The new regulations aim to protect the public while reducing the environmental fallout of disposable e-cigarettes.

Officials say the changes will help "disrupt criminal networks behind black market vapes, protecting the public from dangerous, unregulated products."

Hazel Cheeseman of Action on Smoking and Health told the BBC the new system "will further help to address youth vaping while keeping products available and affordable for adult smokers who want to use them to quit smoking."

"That's going to make a real difference to something that has been a real scourge of the high street for too long now," said John Herriman of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, per the publication.

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