How Much Waste Do Nicotine Pouches Create?
Nicotine pouches have no ash, no smoke and no butt to stub out, which makes it easy to assume they leave nothing behind. They do: a plastic can and a lid full of used pouches, every few days. This page counts what that adds up to, using official sorting guidance, Scandinavian litter measurements, a Danish government report on what pouches are made of, and the EU packaging rules that now apply to the can. No greenwashing, and no scare figures without a source.
The short answer
Each can leaves two kinds of waste: a polypropylene can, which is recyclable once it is empty, and around 20 used pouches, which belong in household waste and do not break down quickly. Littered pouches are now common: snus made up 23 percent of litter items in Sweden's 2025 national count, second only to cigarette butts at 46 percent. EU packaging rules that took effect in August 2026 will require plastic cans to be designed for recycling from 2030.
Last updated: October 2026
In this guide
What one can leaves behind
| Part | Usually made of | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Can and lid | Polypropylene plastic; a few brands use coated paper | Plastic recycling, once empty |
| Used pouches (about 18 to 24 per can) | Cellulose-based fleece with a binder, plant fibre, residual nicotine and flavour | Household (residual) waste |
| Never | Any part | Toilet, street or nature |
The can
Mostly polypropylene
Swedish Match, the maker of ZYN, packs portion snus in polypropylene cans and loose snus in paraffin-coated cardboard cans with plastic lids. A 2024 report for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency confirms that nicotine pouch cans are typically polypropylene and hold about 18 to 24 pouches, and notes that polypropylene fits current plastic recycling systems. Several brands now say so on the can: VELO marks its newer cans for recycling, and Nordic Spirit is sold with a recyclable can and a built-in waste tray.
Recycled plastic is still rare
Making the can from recycled plastic is harder than recycling it. Swedish Match reported that in 2021 less than 1 percent of the plastic it used was recycled material, against 51 percent of its paper, and a Chalmers University master's thesis written with the company noted that Swedish food rules had kept recycled plastic out of its snus cans. Those figures cover the whole group, matches and cigars included, so they are a direction rather than a pouch-specific number.
The used pouch
What it is made of
The pouch itself is a semi-synthetic cellulose fleece, similar to viscose, with a polymer binder that seals the edges. The Danish EPA report found the material closest to cigarette filters in laboratory tests, said it potentially counts as plastic, and noted that no studies yet show how fast used pouches break down; slow breakdown is expected. In the same report, a VELO pouch weighed about 0.62 g, of which 0.11 g was the empty fleece, and used pouches still held 63 percent of their nicotine on average, though only five pouches were tested. What else goes into a pouch is covered in what is in a nicotine pouch, and why moist and dry pouches differ in dry vs moist pouches.
Most people do not know
Keep Sweden Tidy (Håll Sverige Rent) states plainly that snus pouches contain plastic and do not break down in nature. Its August 2026 survey of 1,084 people found that 73 percent of people who use snus did not know a pouch contains plastic, and 39 percent sometimes flush pouches down the toilet.
Where it goes
Sweden's official sorting guidance, run by the country's waste and producer-responsibility bodies, lists snus as household waste and specifically not food waste. Packaging must be emptied before it is sorted. The Danish EPA adds the practical step most people skip: the can is only recyclable once the used pouches stored in the lid have gone into the residual bin. A Swedish water utility, MittSverige Vatten, is blunt about the toilet: snus goes in the bin.
Pouches as litter: the numbers
The best data comes from Scandinavia, where pouches have been common for longest. In Swedish measurements "white snus" means tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
| Measurement | Snus and pouches | Cigarette butts |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden, national measurement 2025 (40 municipalities) | 23% of litter items | 46% |
| Swedish cities 2024 | 21% (white snus 65% of that) | 49% |
| Swedish ski resorts, June 2024 | 4,215 pouches found, 77% white snus | 4,804 butts |
| Norway, clean-up report 2024 | 13,456 items, 6% of finds, 5th most common | 18,750 items, 8% |
Two details from the Swedish data stand out. Total litter in Sweden fell 30 percent between the 2023 and 2025 national measurements, but the snus count did not fall significantly, so pouches are a growing share of what is left. And almost one in three people who use snus (29 percent) admit to littering pouches. The Danish EPA's rough estimate, based on an assumed 5 percent litter rate that it calls very uncertain, is about 5.3 million pouches littered in Denmark each year. Sweden's wider relationship with oral nicotine is covered in our feature on Sweden's smoke-free milestone.
Compared with cigarette butts
Cigarette filters are the benchmark every pouch comparison runs into. The WHO estimates that about 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute the environment every year, that they contain microplastics, and that they are the second most common form of plastic pollution worldwide. Filters are made mainly of cellulose acetate, and the WHO FCTC secretariat puts cigarette butts at about 766.6 million kg of toxic waste a year. A study cited by the Danish EPA found filters taking more than ten years to degrade. A used pouch is smaller and lighter, but by the Danish EPA's own test it is made of a similar kind of material. The honest comparison is that the waste is different rather than absent, and no published life-cycle study yet compares the two directly. How snus and pouches differ in other ways is in snus vs nicotine pouches.
What EU law says
The plastics directive does not cover pouches
The EU's Single-Use Plastics Directive covers tobacco products with filters and filters sold for use with tobacco. Its definition of tobacco products comes from the Tobacco Products Directive, and nicotine pouches are not mentioned. The directive notes that plastic tobacco filters are the second most frequently found single-use plastic item on EU beaches.
The new packaging regulation covers the can
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation has applied since 12 August 2026. It does not mention tobacco or nicotine, but it applies to packaging in general, which includes a pouch can. Its main steps for plastic packaging:
Which recycled-content target applies to a pouch can depends on how the can is classified, which is a question for the producers and their lawyers rather than for us. The direction is clear either way: the polypropylene can is likely to stay, and more of it will have to be made from recycled plastic. How the rest of EU law treats pouches is in our EU regulation guide.
The carbon footprint of a can
We found no published life-cycle assessment for tobacco-free nicotine pouches. The closest is a Chalmers University master's thesis, written with Swedish Match, on a polypropylene can holding 22 g of portion snus. It estimated 57.9 g of CO2 equivalent to produce the can, 98.9 g over its whole life if it is incinerated, and 35.1 g if it is fully recycled. A paper can came out at 41.5 g to the factory gate and a paper-plastic hybrid lowest at 28.3 g. Material production was the largest contributor. It is a student thesis rather than a peer-reviewed study, but the gap between 98.9 g incinerated and 35.1 g recycled is the clearest single argument for putting an empty can in the plastic bin.
What you can do
- Use the lid. Most cans have a compartment for used pouches. Keep them there until you reach a bin.
- Pouches in household waste. Not the food waste, not the toilet, never the ground.
- Empty can in plastic recycling. Take the used pouches out of the lid first, or the whole can ends up as residual waste.
- Finish what you open. Pouches lose flavour once a can is opened, so storing them well means fewer half-used cans thrown away. Our guide on how to store nicotine pouches and on how long pouches last covers both.
Current delivery terms are on our shipping page, and the full range is on our shelf. More of our own numbers on the category live on the nicotine pouch statistics hub, and the different pouch sizes, which change how much fleece each pouch uses, are in nicotine pouch sizes.
Frequently asked questions
Are nicotine pouch cans recyclable?
Most pouch cans are made of polypropylene, a plastic that fits standard plastic recycling. A Danish Environmental Protection Agency report notes that the can is only recyclable once the used pouches in the lid have been removed and put in household waste; otherwise it ends up in residual waste or contaminates the plastic stream.
Where do used nicotine pouches go?
In household (residual) waste. Sweden's official sorting guidance lists snus as household waste and not food waste, and the Swedish water utility MittSverige Vatten asks people to put snus in the bin, not the toilet. The compartment in the lid of most cans is there to hold used pouches until you reach a bin.
Are nicotine pouches biodegradable?
Not in any practical sense. The pouch is a cellulose-based fleece held together with a binder, and the Danish EPA found the material closest to cigarette filters; it potentially counts as plastic, and no studies yet show how fast pouches break down. Keep Sweden Tidy states that pouches contain plastic and do not break down in nature.
How common are nicotine pouches as litter?
Very common in Scandinavia. In Sweden's 2025 national litter measurement across 40 municipalities, snus made up 23 percent of litter items, second only to cigarette butts at 46 percent. In Norway's 2024 clean-up data, snus pouches were the fifth most common item found.
Are nicotine pouches better for the environment than cigarettes?
The waste is different rather than absent. Cigarettes leave filters made of cellulose acetate, about 4.5 trillion of which pollute the environment every year according to the WHO. Pouches leave a used fleece pouch and a plastic can. No published life-cycle assessment yet compares the two directly.
Do EU plastic rules cover nicotine pouches?
The Single-Use Plastics Directive covers tobacco products with filters, not nicotine pouches. Pouch cans fall under general EU packaging law, and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which applies from 12 August 2026, phases in recyclability and recycled-content requirements for plastic packaging from 2030.
What is the carbon footprint of a snus can?
One life-cycle study of a polypropylene snus can, a Chalmers master's thesis written with Swedish Match, estimated 57.9 g CO2e to produce it, 98.9 g over its life if incinerated and 35.1 g if fully recycled. A paper-plastic hybrid can scored lowest, at 28.3 g to the factory gate.
Sources: Swedish Match, snus production and Sustainability Report 2021; Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Nikotinposer: indhold og miljøkonsekvenser (Miljøprojekt 2267, 2024); Danielsson and Gidlund, Life Cycle Assessment of snus cans, Chalmers 2021; sopor.nu sorting guidance; Håll Sverige Rent press releases 2024 to 2026; Hold Norge Rent, Rydderapporten 2024; Directive (EU) 2019/904; Regulation (EU) 2025/40; WHO, 31 May 2022; WHO FCTC secretariat, 1 February 2022; brand packaging claims from VELO and Nordic Spirit retail listings.