Supply chains of the e-tobacco industry

E-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and hookahs

On the occasion of the 20th German Conference on Tobacco Control on 7/8. In December 2022, Unfairtobacco and PowerShift published three factsheets on the supply chains of e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and hookahs. It examines the conditions and consequences of the mining of lithium, copper and bauxite. Tobacco control, corporate due diligence and a change in raw materials are taken into account as fields of action.

The supply chains of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products are far more complex than the supply chains of traditional cigarettes. They don't just contain tobacco or extracted nicotine. The electronic products contain numerous raw materials that must be extracted by mining. In microprocessors, for example, so-called conflict minerals, i.e. tungsten, tin, tantalum and gold, are installed. Lithium-ion batteries provide the energy for e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters and contain lithium, copper and bauxite (for aluminum). The mining of these three raw materials will increase sharply in the coming years due to forced electromobility.

In addition to measures to reduce the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products, a legal duty of corporate diligence and a turnaround in raw materials policy are necessary to advance sustainable development.

E-cigarettes

The factsheet on e-cigarettes focuses on lithium mining in the Andean regions of South America. For this purpose, an enormous amount of water is consumed in areas with sensitive ecosystems that are characterised by water scarcity. In addition, the rights of indigenous communities are massively violated, because the exploitation deprives them of their livelihoods.

Particularly worrying is the trend towards disposable e-cigarettes, which can be observed not only in Germany. In disposable e-cigarettes, as in refillable e-cigarettes, lithium-ion batteries are installed. They are thrown away with the device. Rechargeable batteries are simply not reused. In addition, according to the assessment of the disposal associations, the e-waste is usually not recycled, but simply thrown into the residual waste.

Per month will be According to industry data 5 million disposables imported into Germany. They make about 40% business with e-cigarettes. Assuming a content of 0.15 grams of lithium per single-use e-cigarette, these imports contain 750 kilograms of lithium. This could produce 250,000 batteries for smartphones.

Tobacco heater

The factsheet on tobacco heaters addresses the use of platinum in the heating sheet, conflict minerals in the microprocessors and iron ore mining for stainless steel product parts. However, the focus is on copper, which is considered one of the forgotten raw materials in lithium-ion batteries. In addition, a device model of a tobacco heater also contains copper wire for heating the tobacco.

Copper mining takes place mainly in Chile, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo and China, but also in the Philippines. The leaching of the ore from the rock requires a lot of water and is associated with the use of chemicals that poison the environment around the mines. The high concentration of heavy metals in the deposits and the resulting contaminated mine wastewater threaten drinking water and groundwater and are a major health hazard for people and the environment.

Hookahs

Raw materials are also used in water pipes (shishas / hookahs), for example as a smoke column made of stainless steel or aluminium. Shisha smoking also requires an aluminum foil placed between tobacco and charcoal. The focus of the factsheet on hookahs is therefore bauxite, the raw material from which aluminium is made.

The bauxite used in Germany is almost exclusively imported from Guinea in West Africa, where the world's largest bauxite reserves are stored. The mining is accompanied by forced relocations, heavy dust pollution and water pollution, as well as the destruction of fertile land.

Action: Tobacco control, due diligence, raw material transition

Even if the amounts of lithium, copper or bauxite in the individual devices and accessories are comparatively low, they also have a negative impact on sustainable development. They are accompanied by violations of human rights and massive environmental destruction. For sustainable development, it is therefore necessary to reduce or prevent these effects altogether.

Effective tobacco control measures are aimed at reducing tobacco and nicotine consumption and Protection of children and young people from addiction dangers. Tax increases, for example, are particularly effective. Comprehensive ban on advertising and prevention programmes specifically tailored to individual target groups.

Companies need to be effectively committed to better protecting the environment and enforcing human rights in global supply chains. For this are Tightening of the German Supply Chain Act There is a need for a strong supply chain law at European level.

For sustainable development with respect for planetary boundaries, however, it is not enough to improve the supply chains of raw materials. Instead, there is an urgent need for an Raw material turnaround to initiate and greatly reduce the extraction of raw materials. This requires an extensive circular economy and a ban on products that are not usable in the circular economy, e.g. single-use e-cigarettes.