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Are nicotine pouches sustainable?
The environmental impact products have is an increasing issue due to the current climate crisis, and because of this, consumers and manufacturers have to be conscious of their carbon footprint. Nicotine pouches are supposedly a “cleaner” alternative to other tobacco combustibles, but are they more sustainable? This article explores nicotine pouch sustainability, looking into the manufacturing process, materials used, different brand stances, and the environmental impact compared to other products like cigarettes, providing an insight into this popular smokeless, tobacco-free product.
What factors affect nicotine pouch sustainability?
Nicotine pouch sustainability is affected by several variables, including the customer's education and how they dispose of the product. But here, the focus is on the company producing the nicotine pouches, not the consumer actions. In turn, the key factors that affect the impact a nicotine pouch-producing company has on the environment include:
- Manufacturing process - what energy powers such processes
- Material composition - of both pouch and can
- Transportation - to and from the production facility
Each of these factors is explored in greater detail, along with other comparisons and key points of interest, supplying all the information needed on the environmental impact of nicotine pouches.
Are sustainable manufacturing processes used?
Nicotine pouches are made in mostly automated factories powered by electricity. Like anything that uses electricity, if not from a sustainable source, carbon dioxide is emitted, adding to the growing amount of greenhouse gases. This is a problem in every walk of life, from entertainment to travel to producing all kinds of consumables. However, some companies are combatting this by using renewable energy.
Powering production with renewable energy
A prime example of using a renewable energy source is Nordic Snus AB, a manufacturer of popular Swedish Snus brands. Its facility is an old mill, renovated in 2000, and it uses hydropower to fuel its snus production. And other companies do something similar.
What are nicotine pouches and their cans made from?
The materials used are another factor affecting pouch sustainability. These affect the environment as how they are sourced, harvested, and degraded is important when considering sustainability. The material may not be biodegradable, ethically farmed, or sourced from an environmentally friendly farm. All of which impacts the end product's carbon footprint.
Biodegradable plant fibres
Nicotine pouches are viewed as more sustainable because they use biodegradable fibres. However, the entire nicotine pouch isn’t biodegradable as the sachets are made from a different material, unlike the contents. Many brands use different plant materials for their contents, but the majority use:
Cellulose, along with Pine and/or Eucalyptus
COCO nicotine pouches take this an extra step by using a completely different material, never used before. This brand uses coconut fibres, creating an even more natural and less refined product for you to enjoy.
Another Snus Factory’s PlantCan
It's not only pouch material that matters, as the container is part of the deal, too. Unlike the sachets, mostly made from biodegradable and food-grade materials - the container is not. Some cans are made from non-recyclable plastic, even though this is a small few. But one company has taken this an extra step.
Another Snus Factory houses its nicotine pouch brands in its trademarked PlantCan, created from plant-based plastic with pine tree oil gathered from the waste material of the foresting industry.
The two nicotine pouch brands that use this revolutionary PlantCan are LOOP nicotine pouches and their new venture as of 2024, Lynx nicotine pouches.
Offsetting the carbon footprint caused by shipping
One way nicotine pouches increase their carbon footprint is through shipping, especially with international orders. As well as shipping the final product, businesses use materials transported from different places to create the nicotine pouch. All of which produce and release CO2, creating a carbon footprint. A way to combat this is through offsetting it.
A popular way to combat this is by planting trees, which ultimately helps reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. A big company that does this is JTI and the producers of WAKEY pouches, who are planting around 10000 trees in the Saltofte Gods in Denmark, providing a source to sequester the CO2 produced by shipping its products.
Which brands have the best environmentally friendly focus?
Many nicotine pouch brands are created by the same company and the majority of these businesses have an environmental focus, with some doing more than others. Below, a few are named with the brands of nicotine pouches they produce, allowing you to see the brands with a positive stance on sustainability as well as those mentioned above.
British American Tobacco - a sustainable mindset for "A Better Tomorrow"
British American Tobacco (BAT) is a multinational tobacco company that has moved its sustainability focus to the forefront of the business. Benefitting from this is one of the most popular nicotine pouch brands on the market, VELO nicotine pouches. BAT aims to address climate change and has set certain targets, including:
- Make all its plastic packaging reusable, recyclable, or compatible by 2025.
- Its energy used to be 50% renewable by 2030.
- Be a carbon-neutral business by 2030.
With these aims, BAT shows how focused it is on reducing its carbon footprint and making its nicotine pouch brands, like VELO, as sustainable as possible.
Altria - using a science-based target initiative to achieve Net Zero
Altria is a major American corporation that sells tobacco, cigarettes, and related products like nicotine pouches. It has a firm stance on climate change and states that ‘humans are the primary cause and inaction is not an option’. This strong stance on the matter has led the company to want to be powered by 100% renewable electricity.
If so, then the nicotine pouch brands it manufactures, such as On! Nicotine pouches will be made with renewable energy in 2030, reducing the impact of the brand on the environment.
How does nicotine pouch sustainability fair against cigarettes?
With all the information above, nicotine pouches are becoming a more sustainable option. How do they compare with products like cigarettes? Tobacco is still needed for nicotine pouches as nicotine is extracted from the leaf, meaning deforestation and water contamination caused by tobacco farming are relevant for both products. However, two key differences between these two products affect their environmental impact.
- How they’re used
- How they’re disposed
Below is the information needed to understand these factors’ effects on the environment and how they differ, providing the information you need to deduce which product affects the environment the most.
Does cigarette smoke contribute to increased CO2 levels?
The first difference is how they’re used. Cigarettes are smoked, unlike nicotine pouches, which release toxic chemicals when used, affecting both the environment and those around you. Smoking cigarettes increases air pollution, and once smoked, a single cigarette is responsible for the equivalent of 14 grams of CO2 emissions. This figure doesn't seem a lot, but if a pack a day was smoked for 50 years, that’s 5.1 million grams of CO2 emissions.
What’s the effect of cigarette butts?
Another difference is how they are used. Cigarettes are smoked, and once finished, you’re left with a butt made from a type of plastic that takes years to degrade. When bins are far away, cigarette buts are thrown on the floor and littered. Whereas nicotine pouches have a catch lid if a bin is not near, allowing you to dispose of them correctly when finished.
4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered each year.
These butts end up in waterways, oceans, and streets, polluting many areas and contaminating them with the harmful chemicals, like arsenic, they are made from.
How can nicotine pouches become more eco-friendly?
The information shows there are clear steps that need to be taken for nicotine pouches to become more eco-friendly. These include:
- Sachets need to be biodegradable
- Nicotine needs to be made synthetically, not from the tobacco leaf
- All cans must be fully recyclable, like the PlantCan
Once these steps have been undertaken, nicotine pouches will reduce their environmental impact as tobacco farming is a huge contributor to CO2 emissions, and not being biodegradable or recyclable tarnishes the product's sustainability.
