E-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and water pipes
On the occasion of the 20th German Conference on Tobacco Control, 7./8. In December 2022, Unfairtobacco and PowerShift published three factsheets on the supply chains of e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and water pipes. It takes a closer look at the conditions and consequences of the mining of lithium, copper and bauxite. Tobacco control, corporate due diligence and a turnaround in raw materials are considered 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 used. 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 the forced electromobility.
In addition to measures to reduce the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products, a legal duty of corporate diligence and a change in raw materials policy are necessary to promote sustainable development.
e-cigarettes
The factsheet on e-cigarettes focuses on lithium mining in the Andean regions of South America. For this, an enormous amount of water is consumed in areas with sensitive ecosystems, which are characterized by water scarcity. In addition, the rights of indigenous communities are massively violated, because the degradation deprives them of their livelihoods.
Particularly worrying is the trend towards disposable e-cigarettes, which can be observed not only in Germany. Lithium-ion batteries are installed in disposable e-cigarettes as well as in refillable e-cigarettes. 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.
Becoming per month According to industry data 5 million disposables imported to Germany. They make about 40% Business with e-cigarettes. Assuming a content of 0.15 grams of lithium per disposable e-cigarette, these imports contain 750 kilograms of lithium. This could produce 250,000 batteries for smartphones.
Tobacco heaters
The factsheet on tobacco heaters exemplifies 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. Washing the ore out of 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 polluted mine wastewater threaten drinking water and groundwater and are a major health hazard for humans and the environment.
Water pipes
Raw materials are also used in water pipes (shishas / hookahs), for example as a smoke column made of stainless steel or aluminium. In addition, when smoking shisha, an aluminum foil is required, which is placed between tobacco and coal. The focus of the factsheet on water pipes 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, turnaround of raw materials
Although 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 go hand in hand with human rights violations and massive environmental destruction. For sustainable development, it is therefore necessary to reduce or prevent these effects altogether.
Effective tobacco control measures aim to reduce tobacco and nicotine use and Protection of children and young people at risk of addiction. Tax increases, for example, are particularly effective. Comprehensive advertising ban 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. This is why: Strengthening the German Supply Chain Act and a strong supply chain law at European level.
However, for sustainable development with respect for planetary boundaries, it is not enough to improve the supply chains of raw materials. Instead, there is an urgent need for an Reversal of raw materials 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. disposable e-cigarettes.
