The South Korean city of Guri has developed a machine that transforms cigarette butts into compost, according to a story in The Korea Bizwire.
The technology is being tested in the grounds of government offices, where the machine is housed inside a smoking booth.
According to the story, the process uses microorganisms harmless to humans to create usable compost out of the butts – compost that has the added advantage of repelling pests.
The authorities in Guri have indicated they will place cigarette-butt composting-machines around the city after they have concluded the initial trial and conducted an overview of the results.
Tag: South Korea
Butts into compost
Dithering over HNB
The government in South Korea seems to have run into problems in its quest to measure the risks and relative risks of using heat-not-burn (HNB) products in place of traditional cigarettes.
According to a story in The Korea Herald, in July, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it would conduct safety tests on HNB products and come up with an objective analysis of the health risks posed by using such devices. At that time, it said it would focus on the levels of nicotine and tar delivered by the HNB products’ tobacco sticks.
But the ministry has yet to release the test results and now says that a new system is needed to test the products.
“Because this is a relatively new product, we may have to create new regulations or systems to deal with e-cigarettes,” a ministry official was quoted as saying.
For instance, due to continued public calls for verification of the risk posed by HNB devices, the government was considering introducing a law that stipulated that tobacco companies should release a list of HNB tobacco-stick components.
But tobacco firms said the government’s idea might not be feasible.
“If we hand in a list of e-cigarette ingredients, it will be more than several pages long, because there are so many kinds of chemicals inside the product,” a tobacco-company official was quoting as telling the Herald. “Unlike a cigarette, it is also hard to measure the content inside the e-cigarette stick because those sticks vary in sizes and grams, depending on the device that goes with them. This is also why we weren’t able to release the components list.”
Some experts were said to claim that it wasn’t important how much tar, nicotine and toxicants were delivered by HNB cigarettes, because the important factor was how often a person used such devices.
Nevertheless, a lot of smokers seem to have made up their own minds. In January, sales of HNB cigarettes accounted for 9.1 percent of South Korea’s tobacco market.Sales, revenue down
Volume cigarette sales in South Korea fell by almost four percent in 2017 from those of a year earlier, according to a story in The Korea Herald citing finance ministry data.
It was not clear where the ‘almost four percent’ figure came from however. The country’s smokers were said to have bought 3.45 billion 20-piece cigarette packs last year, down from 3.66 billion packs the year previously. Such a decrease would suggest a fall of between five and six percent.
At the beginning of January 2015, a tax-led increase saw the retail price of cigarettes rise by 80 percent, from 2,500 won ($2.25) per pack to 4,500 won.
The government collected 11.2 trillion won ($10.5 billion) in taxes from cigarette sales last year, down 9.2 percent from the previous year’s 12.4 trillion won.KT&G increases HNB price
South Korea’s largest tobacco maker, KT&G, said today it would increase the price of Fiit, the consumable element of its heat-not-burn (HNB) device Lil, from next week, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
Fiit, a tobacco-filled stick that is used with Lil, was launched at 4,300 won ($4) a pack in November.
The company said the price of Fiit would be increased to 4,500 won a pack, reflecting a recent increase in the individual consumption tax imposed on HNB products and other levies, such as a health promotion fee.
Philip Morris increased the price of Heets, the tobacco stick used with its iQOS HNB device, to 4,500 won last month. It cited similar reasons.
The Herald reported that Fiit sticks were sold in two types, Change and Change up, with the latter offering a fruitier flavor than the former. Both used KT&G’s ‘signature flavor-changing capsules’.
‘Since its November release, Lil has garnered popularity among smokers for its reasonable price, recording sales of 50,000 devices within a month, as of the end of December,’ the Herald said.Warnings of little concern
Cigarette manufacturers in South Korea have said they are not ‘not too worried’ about the possibility that the government will increase the size of graphic health warnings on cigarettes, according to a story in The Korea Times.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs on December 23.
According to a Yonhap News Agency story from last week, a committee, comprising eight civilian experts and four government officials, met in South Korea on January 4 to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, and discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the 10 graphic images used must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
“When the government introduced the graphic health warning policy a couple of years ago, we were concerned it would reduce demand for cigarettes,” Kwak Sang-hee, a senior PR official at British American Tobacco (BAT) North Asia said in a statement reported by the Times. “But the policy turned out to have little impact on our sales. I think this time it won’t be much different.
“But we do not know for sure at this point. It may affect the demand, depending on how big the warnings will be and how they will look.”
A PR official at KT&G, the largest tobacco maker in South Korea, said the company didn’t expect a big drop in sales, citing examples in which similar policies in other countries had barely affected demand for cigarettes.
A recent survey by the Korea Health Promotion Institute suggests three-quarters of people think the graphic warnings should be larger than they are at present.
But some experts say the effects of graphic warnings are limited; and they think the government should use its tax policy if it is serious about reducing smoking rates.
But policymakers know tax policies carry political risks.Graphic HNB warnings?
A committee meeting in South Korea yesterday to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products, according to a Yonhap News Agency story.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs in December.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the graphics must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
The new graphic images are due to appear on cigarette packs by December 23, but firstly they must be approved by a committee composed of eight civilian experts and four government officials.
Figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development put the smoking rate among South Korean men aged 15 and older at 31 percent in 2015.
This was the highest rate among 15 OECD countries surveyed.
Japan came second with 30 percent, followed by Italy with 25 percent.Bigger warnings sought
Most South Koreans think cigarette-pack graphic health warnings should be increased in size, while some believe they should cover the whole pack, according to a story in The Korea Herald citing the results of a poll that sought the opinions of 634 smokers and 866 non-smokers.
Not long ago, when graphic warnings were first suggested, it was said that, culturally, such warnings would not be acceptable in the country.
Currently, graphic warnings cover 50 percent of the two largest faces of packs – the front and the back.
Of the 1,500 people surveyed by the Korea Health Promotion Institute last year, 27.6 percent of adults and 29.2 percent of young people said graphic warnings should be enlarged.
Thirteen-point-one percent of those surveyed said the warnings should cover more than 90 percent of packs, while 17 percent of adults and 17.3 percent of adolescents said the entire pack should be wrapped in images showing the dangers of smoking.
Twenty-four-point-six percent of adults and 17.1 percent of young people supported the current 50 percent warnings.
The poll was said to have found also that people are ‘more impressed’ by pictorial warnings than by warning phrases alone. On a one-to-five scale, graphic warnings were said to have a 3.94 effect while warning phrases had a 2.41 effect.
South Korea’s smoking rate rose to 23.9 percent in 2016 from 22.6 percent in 2015.
The country’s smoking rate among men stood at 31 percent in 2015, the highest among the 15 member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for which statistics are available.HNB demand boosts imports
South Korea’s imports of tobacco and vaping products rose to their highest level in 15 years last year, according to a Yonhap News Agency report quoting government figures.
The rise in imports was driven largely by the popularity of heat-not-burn (HNB) cigarettes.
South Korea imported combustible cigarettes and electronic-vaping products worth US$199.96 million during the first 11 months of last year, up 61 percent on the value of such imports during the whole of 2016, according to data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS).
The value of imports for the 11-month period was higher than any annual total since 2002, the KCS said.
Imports for the whole of 2017 are expected to surpass $200 million.
Indonesia accounted for the largest share of the value of South Korea’s 11-month 2017 imports, $45.9 million, and the Philippines was second, accounting for $36.06 million of those imports.
Italy took third place after HEETS, the consumable item of Philip Morris’ iQOS HNB device, was launched on to the domestic market in June. Imports of HEETS were valued at $30.62 million.
Philip Morris was said to have accounted for 80 percent of the nation’s HNB market.Exports booming
KT&G, which aims to become one of the top four global tobacco companies by 2025, is thought to have enjoyed record high exports this year, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
As at the end of the third quarter, the value of the company’s overseas cigarette sales had reached 802.5 billion won ($737.2 million), accounting for 36 percent of its total earnings.
Industry analysts are expecting the value of its overseas cigarette sales to break 1 trillion won for the first time this year.
This year’s strong performance follows a record high in 2016, when KT&G sold 48.7 billion cigarettes to earn 941.4 billion won in about 50 countries.
The company has been focusing on markets in Russia and the Middle East, as well as developing customized products for markets in Central and South America, and Africa.
On December 5, the company’s efforts were recognized by the Korean government with the $800 million Export Tower Award.
At the end of November, KT&G announced a new plan to quadruple its overseas sales by 2025. The company plans to establish regional headquarters for the Asia-Pacific, Americas, Africa and Eurasia regions, and to create brands that meet consumer needs.
HNB prices to rise in Korea
The South Korean unit of Philip Morris International said on Friday it would increase the price of its heat-not-burn (HNB) products, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
The per-pack retail price of HEETS, the consumable element of its HNB device, IQOS, will rise to 4,500 won ($4.13) starting on Wednesday, a 4.65 percent increase from the current 4,300 won.
The price rise was in response to a recent increase in the consumption tax imposed on HNB products and an expected increase in other levies, the company said.
At the same time, Philip Morris Korea said it would expand its plant in Yangsan, just north of the port of Busan, to manufacture HEETS.
The expansion will involve an investment of $420 million and the recruitment of an additional 700 workers.
Currently, the Yangsan plant manufactures Marlboro and other conventional tobacco brands for domestic sales and exports.
