Are vape recycling stations skirting advertising rules?
VapeCycle is a recycling initiative run by the vape company VAPO. VAPO has sponsored music festivals in the past, and is one of the many vape brands owned by VEC Limited.
VapeCycle boxes - where people can dispose of their empty vapes, appeared, for example at 2024's Rhythm and Vines, and Northern bass festivals - with VEC Limited product branding on the recycling boxes.
Pictures of the vape boxes on Rhythm and Vines' website show them with pictures of bright vapes - however VAPO says at the festival itself, these were not the boxes used - but they had been used in other locations in the past.
Lucy Hardie is a public health researcher at Auckland Univeristy and says the imagery, and branding, may be perceived as product promotion, which is prohibited.
A social media post from VAPO.
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