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Case 04 — Vuse Sustainability

Setting the sustainability standard within the vaping category.

Single-use vapes had turned sustainability into the category's defining liability1 — and one of its fastest-growing consumer concerns.7

Vuse actually held genuine sustainability credentials — the first independently-certified carbon-neutral vape brand,3 recyclable-by-design products,3 device take-back schemes.4 But these credentials lived primarily in corporate reporting: abstract, defensive, and a long way from the consumer. The innovation and expertise behind them were real — the messages simply weren't landing with consumers. And concern was real and rising: around two-thirds of people globally report high levels of concern about sustainability,7 while most vapers said they'd recycle more if products were clearly marketed as recyclable.2 So the question was this — how could a brand turn significant but unseen sustainability credentials into something consumers actually noticed, and that built real brand equity?

RoleGlobal Category Lead — Health & ESG
ClientBAT · Vuse
ScopeGlobal
Year2022–25
ProgrammeSHIFT · FIELD
ProofAward-winning
01The problem

Sustainability had become a problem the category couldn't ignore.

Around 844 million vaping devices are discarded globally every year, and only a fraction — roughly one in six — are recycled correctly.1 Consumers cared but couldn't easily act: most said they'd recycle more if products were clearly marketed as recyclable.2 Sustainability had become a serious, fast-growing liability for the whole category — and a brand with genuine credentials had everything to gain from getting ahead of it.

02The idea

Refocus Vuse's sustainability strategy — and drive scale behind the priority messages.

Rather than spread effort across ten abstract claims, the strategic move was to concentrate on the one concern consumers could see and act on: recycling. One tangible theme, communicated with genuine reach and consistency, beats ten worthy messages that never land — especially when most consumers were already willing to act if simply shown how.2 The job was to make recycling the thing Vuse was known for, and to put real media and activation weight behind it.

03The AI role

AI optimised workflows across research, creative, data analysis and consumer experience.

Behind it sat a blend of cutting-edge bespoke and off-the-shelf AI solutions — applied wherever they could make recycling easier and more rewarding for consumers. The consumer never saw 'AI'; they saw creative & comms that aligned with their values. Detail on the precise role played by AI within Vuse's Vape Recycling programme is confidential.

04The approach

Three pillars — design, consumer action, take-back.

The programme ran on three pillars. Design for Sustainability came first: recyclable cardboard packs, plastic-film-free kits and silicone caps removed.3 Consumer action came next — making the sustainable choice easy to understand and easy to act on. And take-back: Vuse Take Back, spanning both owned and third-party device and pod recycling schemes. By prioritising and simplifying consumer activation around a single tangible theme, the programme became far easier for individual markets to pick up and run — facilitating rollout at scale.

05The outcome

Take-back in 100% of markets — credentials consumers could finally see.

Vuse Take Back was deployed across 100% of Vuse's markets.4 The award-winning36 programme paired that reach with recyclable-by-design products — around 70% of device weight recoverable on an independently-assured basis5 — turning genuine credentials into something consumers could finally see and act on. And that wasn't only our view: BAT's own CMO credited Vuse with setting the category's sustainability standard.3

Sources & substantiation
  1. Around 844 million vaping devices are discarded globally every year, and only ~17% are recycled correctly. Chemistry World (Royal Society of Chemistry), reporting UNITAR / WEEE Forum research. chemistryworld.com
  2. ~76% of vapers say they would be more likely to recycle if vapes were marketed as recyclable. Material Focus / YouGov research, 2023. materialfocus.org.uk
  3. BAT press release, 21 December 2021 — Vuse wins the 2021 SEAL Sustainable Product Award; first global independently-certified carbon-neutral vape brand (certified by Vertis, 2021); Design-for-Sustainability measures (recyclable cardboard packs, plastic-film-free kits, silicone-cap removal, 'Drop the Pod' / device take-back); CMO: Vuse "set the sustainability standard within the vaping category". bat.com
  4. Vuse device take-back ('Drop the Pod' / Take Back) schemes available across all markets where Vuse is sold. BAT Annual Report and Form 20-F 2023 (Combined Annual & ESG Report, published February 2024). bat.com — Annual Report & Form 20-F 2023
  5. On average, ~70% of the weight of a Vuse device is recoverable material that recycling partner Call2Recycle can reuse. Vuse public recycling information. vusevapor.com/recycling
  6. Transform Awards Europe 2022 — Gold, Best Use of Sustainable Packaging (Vuse, with Landor & Fitch). Transform magazine. transformmagazine.net
  7. Some 64% of consumers globally report high levels of concern about sustainability, with concern intensifying over the prior two years. Bain & Company survey of 23,000 consumers, November 2023. bain.com

Fuller detail on the programme — the market-by-market rollout and the activation work beneath it — is available on request. Request the full case study →

Case study describes work led by Andy Parton in a senior role at British American Tobacco plc. All brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners; Parallax Advisory is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Figures cited are drawn from the public sources noted; where results are commercially confidential they are shown directionally. Outcomes reflect a specific engagement and are not a guarantee of future results.

FAQ

How do you make corporate ESG meaningful to consumers?

Start from what people actually understand and care about — the tangible, visible concerns — not whichever metric the sustainability team finds easiest to defend. Recycling is universally understood and physically real; an abstract carbon number rarely survives the journey to a consumer. Lead with the concern that matters to them, then earn it with credible substance underneath.

What role can AI play in a programme like this?

A variety of them — and almost always behind the scenes. It can accelerate sustainability creative development and optimisation; analyse how product life-cycle assessments shift over time to help substantiate claims; and elevate consumer recycling experiences at scale. The common thread is that AI does the heavy lifting underneath, so the consumer simply gets a clearer, easier experience.

How do you avoid greenwashing in a category under this much scrutiny?

With one hard rule: never communicate a claim you can't independently substantiate — and never imply a product is 'green' when the honest story is 'less wasteful, and improving'. Every consumer-facing claim here traced back to something external and verifiable: independent carbon-neutral certification, assured lifecycle data, third-party award juries, real take-back infrastructure. The discipline isn't saying less — it's saying only what survives outside scrutiny, and being precise about what's solved and what isn't.

How do you scale a take-back programme globally, across very different infrastructure?

Modularly. Each market activates the pillars that fit its infrastructure — some lean on post and partners like TerraCycle, others on retail return and Call2Recycle. The architecture is global; the implementation is per-market. Done well, take-back reaches every market the brand is in.4

How do you make sustainability work survive shifting priorities?

Anchor it in things that endure. The substance here — recyclable-by-design products, take-back, independent certification and awards — is built into the product and the public reporting, not dependent on any single campaign. Activations come and go; credentials that are designed in, and externally verified, keep compounding.

How do you turn a sustainability programme into brand equity?

Make credible substance visible and easy to act on, and let independent recognition carry the proof — certification, awards and assured lifecycle data rather than self-claims. Equity comes from consumers seeing a brand genuinely do the thing, and from third parties verifying it — not from the brand asserting it.

Can I see the detail behind the headline figures?

Some additional detail can be shared under NDA — please request the full case study or start a conversation below.

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