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Disposable vapes are not only unhealthy, they are also bad for the environment. Nevertheless, they are in trend among young people.
They look like highlighters and come in a variety of flavors. Disposable e-cigarettes were sold more in Switzerland this year than ever before. In the first half of the year, sales in Switzerland increased by 30 percent per month. This is also due to increased consumption among young people.
State-wide regulations will only come in 2 years
Wolfgang Kweitel from the Working Group on Tobacco Prevention in Switzerland is concerned about the health of young people, because disposable products contain nicotine and quickly become addictive.
Selling disposable e-cigarettes to minors is only banned in 9 cantons. A Switzerland-wide sales ban is planned, but will probably not come into force until 2024. Kweitel therefore fears that the number of minors who become addicted to nicotine will increase drastically in the next 2 years.
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Very few cantons prohibit the sale to minors.
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Strawberry Ice Cream and Coca-Cola
Wolfgang Kweitel thinks that the disposable products are aimed at young people: “Nobody can tell me that Coca-Cola or strawberry ice cream are flavors that were made for 50-year-old smokers.” Mario Puppo finds this accusation unfair. He is an e-cigarette dealer and President of the Swiss Vape Trade Association. According to Puppo, the products are not aimed at young people, but for adult smokers to quit smoking. The association formulated an industry code in 2018 in which members voluntarily committed not to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s.
Also easy to get online
Despite the industry code, single-use e-cigarettes are easy for youngsters to obtain. In addition to independent kiosks and petrol stations, minors can also buy the devices in numerous online shops without their age being precisely checked.
“Kassensturz” takes the test and orders a disposable e-cigarette from Mario Puppo’s online store Vape.ch. When the age has to be stated, we enter the year 2007. We will receive an order confirmation after a few seconds.
Rarely disposed of professionally
Disposable e-cigarettes are not only criticized because of the threatened protection of minors. The disposable product is resource-wasting. Vapes consist of an aluminum body, a plastic mouthpiece, a tank with liquid containing nicotine, a heating coil made of various heavy metals and a lithium-ion battery. The devices would have to be taken to an electronic waste collection point for disposal.
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The structure of a disposable cigarette
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According to Pasqual Zopp, Managing Director of SENS E-Recycling, only very few single-use e-cigarettes end up there at the moment. His foundation promotes and organizes private-sector recycling solutions. “It’s important to recycle these products because we can use it to remove pollutants from the environment and feed the raw materials back into the cycle,” says Zopp.
The demand is great
Among Swiss retailers, only Spar, Aldi and Coop offer disposable products, but only without nicotine at Coop. Aldi and Spar tell Kassensturz that the products are in the range due to high customer demand.