On September 28, 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 762, banning the sale, manufacture, and importation of disposable vapes in California. This law in one of the largest consumer markets in the nation represents a landmark victory for environmental health, public health, and U.S. taxpayers.

What does the law say?

AB-762 presents a rare opportunity to massively reduce the amount of vape waste in California by preventing disposable vapes from flooding the state in the first place. The law seeks to eliminate the presence of any non-cannabis vape devices that contain an embedded battery and (1) the battery cannot be recharged, and/or (2) the device has an e-liquid container that cannot be replaced or refilled. It accomplishes this by:

• Banning their manufacturing within the state as of January 1, 2027
• Banning their importation into the state as of January 1, 2027
• Banning their sale or distribution anywhere in the state as of January 1, 2028

The law authorizes the California Department of Taxation and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to enforce the restrictions by seizing the unauthorized products, issuing civil monetary penalties, and suspending or revoking the state tobacco retailer license for those in non-compliance. Furthermore, any violation is punishable as an infraction. Similarly, the law authorizes local government agencies to impose civil penalties and seize unauthorized products.

The enactment of this bill is the culmination of tireless efforts by environmental organizations, such as Californians Against Waste, California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), California Product Stewardship Council and RethinkWaste. It received widespread support from numerous California cities and counties, infrastructure and public works organizations, environmental and public health groups, student advocates, and medical professional associations throughout the state.

Why does AB-762 matter?

Every year, 178.7 million disposable vapes are sold in the United States. And every second Americans throw away 5.7 of these vapes. This rapid production of hazardous waste has created a massive cost-prohibitive toxic problem for communities and local governments across the nation. It is a problem that requires wide-scale solutions that cut the problem at the source. AB-762 is a huge step in that direction. Rather than relying on local communities to deal with this insidious hazardous waste problem in a piecemeal and costly fashion, AB-762 requires a uniform sales ban of these vapes across the entire state of California.

Vapes present a growing hazard to our public health, environment, infrastructure, and public safety. After entering the market over a decade ago, the tobacco industry has ensured their proliferation by promoting youth-targeted designs, ubiquitous and deceptive marketing practices, and cheap prices. Vapes have since burdened schools, sanitation departments, and waste management facilities with issues related to disposal and mitigation of the resulting toxic waste.

While this is true for all vape devices, those deceptively marketed as “disposable” create even greater challenges: they are small items tightly packed full of multiple kinds of hazardous waste, which can leach or explode when separated. This makes their disposal difficult and expensive. What’s more, because the vast majority of waste management facilities are not equipped to deal with these devices, safe disposal of these devices is unavailable in most communities.

Every component in a vape product threatens public safety and the environment. The lithium batteries are prone to explosions and fires when they are even slightly damaged. The nicotine e-liquid is an acute hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and related regulations. This is due to the elevated risk of death or permanent injury when concentrated nicotine touches human skin. The heating coils that aerosolize the liquids are made of heavy metals and carcinogenic materials, like nickel and lead. The plastic body encasing all other components is not meant for recycling or reclaiming. These vape products often end up littered on the ground or at landfills, where they release microplastics and various types of hazardous leachates into the soil, water, and groundwater. Even when they end up in the proper waste stream, the most common way to dispose of these devices is incineration, adding to the release of particulate matter and carbon emissions. And considering that lithium is a resource that is difficult and expensive to mine and is necessary for actual beneficial uses like transportation and stored electricity, it defies logic to put so much of it in products that make people sicker, become waste within days of purchase, and are destined to be incinerated at great cost to local taxpayers and health.

Instead, AB-762 takes an upstream approach that significantly reduces the amount of vapes from entering the consumer market and is the most effective way to address the toxic waste issue they create.

What does this mean for localities?

Local jurisdictions are specifically authorized to enforce this statute and to collect and keep the monetary penalties associated with an assessed violation. Localities can also pursue local policies that would go further than state law, for example, by prohibiting all tobacco products that generate tobacco product waste and environmental harms.

Carolina Saavedra, Senior Staff Attorney
September 29, 2026