Reduce post-consumer waste

We understand that our product proposition needs to address both the health impacts of our products, as well as their environmental impact. To address the latter, we embed principles of eco-design and circularity. We also implement effective post-consumer waste management solutions to reduce waste, prevent littering, and promote the responsible disposal of products at end-of-life.

Purposefully phase out cigarettes

Purposefully phase out cigarettes
Maximize the benefits of smoke-free products

Maximize the benefits of smoke-free products
Seek net positive impact in wellness and healthcare

Seek net positive impact in wellness and healthcare
Reduce post-consumer waste

Reduce post-consumer waste
Foster an empowered and inclusive workplace

Foster an empowered and inclusive workplace
Improve the quality of life of people in our supply chain

Improve the quality of life of people in our supply chain
Tackle climate change

Tackle climate change
Preserve nature

Preserve nature

Old heated tobacco devices for recycling

Our 2025 Roadmap goals

see our full 2025 roadmap

REDUCE POST-CONSUMER WASTE

Reduce post-consumer waste and prevent littering by implementing comprehensive programs covering all our consumables.

Follow eco-design and circularity principles for all smoke-free electronic devices.

Key performance indicators to track our progress

Reduce post-consumer waste and prevent littering by implementing comprehensive programs covering all our consumables

Progress on track

We have expanded the scope of anti-littering programs for cigarette butts to 76 percent of sales volumes while continuing to roll out end-of-life take-back programs for smoke-free consumables, now covering 17.6 percent of sales volumes.*

* Shipment volume includes heated tobacco units, e-vapor cartridges, and e-vapor disposables. See PMI’s Sustainability KPI Protocol 2023 for further details.

Follow eco-design and circularity principles for all smoke-free electronic devices

Progress with challenges

Smoke-free products—and heated tobacco products, in particular—are a relatively new product category. As such, they are generally not covered by existing product category rules. We have further defined our framework for eco-design and integrated several sustainable design principles into select pilot projects.

fundamentals background

See full performance metrics

Learn more about PMI’s Sustainability Index in our Integrated Report 2023. See the full performance metrics and related footnotes here.

The right thing to do

Reducing and appropriately managing post-consumer waste means we extract, convert, and use fewer raw materials from a planet with limited natural resources.

Read more

The right thing to do

Reducing and appropriately managing post-consumer waste means we extract, convert, and use fewer raw materials from a planet with limited natural resources.

By reducing materials used in our packaging, combustible products, smoke-free consumables, and electronic devices, we can reduce our environmental footprint and decrease our negative impact on the planet and society.

Moreover, committing to the safe and responsible disposal of post-consumer waste addresses society’s concerns regarding the impacts of litter. Among others, there are concerns over the pollution resulting from improper disposal of plastic, tobacco, and other materials such as metals, potentially resulting in harm to wildlife and humans alike. We recognize the imperative of designing lower-impact products and working to protect nature and preserve the environment.

The business case

Many consumers consider the environmental impact of products and services in their purchase decisions.

Read more

The business case

Many consumers consider the environmental impact of products and services in their purchase decisions. Regulators also are increasingly focused on corporate responsibility regarding the manufacture and use of materials (e.g., single-use plastics, electronic device repairability, packaging, end-of-life management). Appropriately addressing post-consumer waste mitigates negative impacts on our bottom line, as producers increasingly are asked to participate in cleanup costs or cover a significant share of the product end-of-life waste management cost.

It also helps us to enhance our brand equity and corporate reputation, and to meet consumer expectations.

Heightened consumer expectations and regulatory trends further motivate us to innovate in ways that can drive competitive advantage. Devising more circular value chains not only reduces waste and litter but also promotes better use of materials and higher operational efficiency—all of which are good for our bottom line.

Old heated tobacco devices for recycling

Our progress in 2023

Read more in our Integrated Report

Waste case study indonesia landscape

Applying impact valuation and Social Return On Investment methodologies to PMI’s Waste Bank project in Indonesia

Tobacco leaf close-up

Preserve nature

Littering prevention and sustainability in the Nordics

My name is Anette Rosengren. I'm Managing Director for the Nordic business,

so that's Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Our vision is to make the Nordics smoke-free.

Coming to the challenges, our markets are very, very restrictive,

so we have a point-of-sale display ban in four out of five markets.

So our ability to communicate with [legal-age] consumers is limited.

Because we know that legal-age smokers want to understand if there are alternatives.

So our biggest challenge is actually to create awareness.

By creating awareness about alternatives

it's easier for the legal-age smokers to make a better choice.

So if I give you another example of the highly restricted markets around us,

is that in 2019,

the Swedish government decided to put a law in place to ban outdoor smoking.

So you're not allowed to smoke in a restaurant, at a festival or actually at the bus stop.

They wanted to protect people from secondhand smoke, so the intentions were good,

but this meant they were removing all ashtrays from the public space,

and this led to an increase in butt littering,

because you didn't remove the smokers.

You only removed the butts from the ashtrays to the streets.

We started to work together with the municipalities,

and also with an NGO anti-littering organization,

in order to address this issue with the smokers,

in order to make sure that we reduce the butt littering.

When it comes to our sustainability mission,

we can see today that now we have these pocket ashtrays,,

we worked together with our retailers, so our customers, in order to improve sustainability.

I think by that we will actually reach a lot of legal-age smokers to change their habits.,

So if I get to the second part with concrete examples, our e-cigarette.,

And when we had a focus group with Finnish consumers before the launch, they were asking us, "So what am I going to do with this plastic?",

At all sites where we are selling VEEV, you can also actually deposit the plastic.

So from the beginning we are creating a circular business model.

When we talk about the aspirational targets for us in the Nordics,

the most aspirational is of course to create a smoke-free Nordics.

That's the number one.

Youth access prevention is also a very important program for us.

And thirdly, of course the waste management.

I've been giving you examples on circular and also on anti-littering and pocket ashtrays.

Product reliability thumbnail

Sustain product reliability

Not-Ashtray thumbnail

Our world is not an ashtray

Working with behavioral scientists to change attitudes toward littering

Piano music starts

Pia Prestmo’s voiceover starts:

We decided to go with mind shift because

there are well-renowned scientists,

behavioral scientists that have worked

Pia Prestmo, Manager External Affairs at Philip Morris Norway, talks to camera:

...on litter before and they've done

research on behalf of both the authorities

and other private companies.

Jørgen Dalen, Behavioral Scientist at Mindshift, speaks to camera:

The benefits of our cooperation with the

PMI is that they give us a chance to conduct

experiments so we are pretty sure about

the real effects of these measures.

The experiments work really well,

Especially the footsteps on the ground.

I think it's the most effective measure we have ever

seen on littering

You always have to think about

motivation and what drives people in

order to make a proper behavior design.

Ida Kopperstad, Behavioral Scientist at Mindshift, speaks to camera:

Our techniques are based on research and

studies about human behavior and how to

trigger the right behavior at the right time.

Pia Prestmo, Manager External Affairs at Philip Morris Norway, talks to camera:

Well I think ballot bins are pretty well

known all over Europe and in Oslo, we

have them you know in every street corner.

but I just wanted to look into

how can you have smokers use them even

more to make them more a part of their everyday?

Jørgen Dalen, Behavioral Scientist at Mindshift, speaks to camera:

I think we now have the knowledge on how

to reduce the litter so now it's pretty

much up to the stakeholders to

to make these measures go through.

Pia Prestmo, Manager External Affairs at Philip Morris Norway, talks to camera:

I think that nobody can do this alone.

I think all good forces need to be joined

I'm talking about the authorities,

private companies, civil society,

we all need to do our part and we need to speak

together and you know align in order to

to have the good results that we all want to have.

When we started this project I did

expect nudging to have an effect,

but not such a great effect.

I was astonished.”

Words on screen read:

Mindshift study results: 145% usage increase with nudging and prompts about the bins’ purpose.

20% bin usage increase when adding further messages to capture attention.

Philip Morris International logo is seen on screen.

Music ends

PMI collaborates with Cortexia to analyze litter

Music starts

Voiceover begins

At PMI, we know the importance of working with experts in order to grow in a

more sustainable and responsible way. And this is why we are always looking for companions

to better understand and meet the challenges ahead. In 2017, we started working with Cortexia

to analyze litter, how much there is, of which type, and the measures that most efficiently

reduce litter. Cortexia is a project that combines artificial intelligence

and sustainability. Our technology allows us to monitor the streets and quantify litter

in real time.

Andréas von Kaenel, CEO of Cortexia, speaks to camera:

We help the city to improve the efficiency on cleaning resources,

including special emphasis on cigarette butts.

Voiceover speaks:

This new technology helps to

understand an old problem by showing which waste is littered where and when.

Andréas von Kaenel, CEO of Cortexia, voiceover speaks:

Partnering with PMI was a qualitative leap for us to develop certain technologies that allow us

to move towards a clean and sustainable future, not only in cities but also in seas and beaches.

Jens Rupp, Manager of Environmental Sustainability, Philip Morris International, speaks to camera:

We are aware that we can play a crucial role in changing people's habits.

We want to be the one to promote that change. We must be.

Andréas von Kaenel, CEO of Cortexia, voiceover speaks:

Many cities have already used our technology to improve their litter rejection programs.

By being more effective in reducing cigarette butts here,

we will avoid pollution there.

Cortexia offers us the possibility to quantify an anti-littering campaign success by evaluating

whether cigarette butt littering is reduced as a result of specific actions and by how much.

Jens Rupp, Manager of Environmental Sustainability, Philip Morris International, speaks to camera:

These insights are incredibly useful for us.

Andréas von Kaenel, CEO of Cortexia, speaks to camera:

Together we have developed new tools which allows us to move forward.

We even use drones to measure litter.

Voiceover speaks:

Every new partnership helps our efforts and increases our effectiveness to protect the environment.

Logos appear on screen for Philip Morris Internation and Cortexia.

The words: Working together appears alongside them.

Music ends.

PMI and Litterati: Working together

Instrumental music starts

Voiceover starts:

Litterati is an organization dedicated to

the prevention of litter we use

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

...technology to engage people and then use

the collected data to drive smarter

litter prevention strategies.

Dick Ayres, Cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at Litterati, speaks to camera:

We started taking a photograph on Instagram and now

we've developed a platform which

connects people allows us to analyze

data and to uncover insights and patterns.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

The type of litter item as well

as where and when it's picked up are all

recorded for analysis.

Jens Rupp, Head of Environmental Sustainability at Philip Morris International, speaks to camera:

Litterati is one of the world's leading

experts and actors on anti-littering.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

We can empower people with the tools to be part of the solution.

Voiceover speaks:

The data is taken from the application

so just by taking a photograph we can

extract from that photograph the bottles,

the cans, the cigarette butts, that are in it,

they're geo-located.

We can understand

concentrations we can understand where

hot spots are.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

From identifying every cigarette butt or

piece of plastic on a city street to

locating illegal dog sites.

Voiceover continues:

and understanding that helps us find solutions to

how this littering can be reduced over time.

Jens Rupp, Head of Environmental Sustainability at Philip Morris International, speaks to camera:

they have a fantastic consumer-facing

app an application that can be used to

generate engagement and they also have

presence in many countries.

So working together allows us

to reach more people, to engage more

people than we could ever have dreamt of otherwise.

We're working with Litterati and also Carto,

one of the world's leading geo-analysts to develop a little

monitoring baseline in all the countries

where we operate.

This in turn will allow us to define

better programs,

more effective programs to change

behavior across the world.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

We can be a data driven decision tool

for every city in the world,

engaging a global community to be part

of the solution.

Jens Rupp, Head of Environmental Sustainability at Philip Morris International, speaks to camera:

We have a 2025 target to reduce by 50 percent

the plastic litter from our product,

this is an immensely ambitious target.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder and CEO of Litterati, speaks to camera:

I'm an optimist. I believe that in 10 years

we will be fast approaching the true end to litter.

Words appear on screen reading:

Philip Morris International, Litterati, Working together.

Music ends.

Environmental commitment

Anti-littering policy

PMI’s Sustainable Design Framework

Download is not available

Reduce Post-Consumer Waste Strategy

Sustainability KPI Protocol 2023

Our efforts to find suitable alternatives to replace cellulose acetate in our cigarette and heated tobacco unit filters are under way and will continue into 2024. With regard to packaging, we are focused on delivering against our 2025 aspirations and will continue deploying programs to reduce packaging weight and to ensure all our packaging formats are designed for recycling. The Swedish Match integration into PMI will bring a new and challenging dimension to our packaging portfolio. We recognize this as a great opportunity to take a refreshed look at more circular packaging solutions, such as refill or reuse, for this growing format as we drive alignment with our PMI sustainability goals.

In 2024, we will continue maturing PMI’s eco-design program by further embedding these principles across our devices, consumables, and accessories portfolio. Concretely, on the devices portfolio, we will continue to improve our eco-certification framework by testing the application of eco-friendly design specifications into selected pilot projects in our heat-not-burn and e-vapor categories, and seek to obtain independent verification of the implementation of this framework. In this context, we also plan to evolve our LCA methodology and apply it to select variations of our smoke-free devices. Moreover, we will review PMI’s repair strategy with the aim to refine our design guidelines for repair and recycle, and work on improving device robustness with the aim to extend product longevity and minimize electronic waste. Within our consumables portfolio, we will continue exploring technical solutions to reduce the plastic content in the heat-not-burn consumables. Finally, across our accessories portfolio we will drive further adoption of environmentally responsible materials in our offerings. Building on our progress to date, we remain committed to maintaining a recycling rate within our CIRCLE program above 80 percent.

We will remain committed to anchoring sustainability in our brands. During 2024, we will deploy our sustainability roadmap (covering product design, packaging, post-consumer waste management initiatives, and consumer-facing communications) for our fairly recent categories of e-vapor and oral products. Reducing post-consumer waste remains a strong focus, and we expect to expand the geographical coverage of our smoke-free consumables end-of-life take-back program. Our aim is to reach 80 percent of global volume coverage and we are on track to achieving that. As we continue to deploy our program at scale, we plan to conduct studies to better understand use patterns and inform our waste treatment strategies. Further, understanding the importance of prolonging the lifespan of our devices, we plan to scale the deployment of our second-life IQOS proposition to reach our 2025 aspiration.

This online content about our Integrated Report should be read in conjunction with PMI’s Integrated Report 2023. This report includes metrics that are subject to measurement uncertainties due to inherent limitations in the nature and methods for data collection and measurement. The precision of different collection and measurement techniques may also vary. This report includes data or information obtained from external sources or third parties. Unless otherwise indicated, the data contained herein cover our operations worldwide for the full calendar year 2023 or reflect the status as of December 31, 2023. Where not specified, data comes from PMI financials, nonfinancials, or estimates. Unless explicitly stated, the data, information, and aspirations referenced in online content do not incorporate PMI’s wellness and healthcare business, Vectura Fertin Pharma. Regarding the Swedish Match acquisition, completed late 2022, unless otherwise indicated, online content does not include information pertaining to their sustainability performance. Please also refer to "This report at a glance" on page 2 of PMI's Integrated Report 2023 for more information. Aspirational targets and goals do not constitute financial projections, and achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions, as outlined in our forward-looking and cautionary statements on page 214. In PMI's Integrated Report 2023 and in related communications, the terms “materiality,” “material,” and similar terms are defined in the referenced sustainability standards and are not meant to correspond to the concept of materiality under the U.S. securities laws and/or disclosures required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Share this page