Reducing waste

This section does not incorporate data or practices for Swedish Match or Aspeya, PMI’s Wellness unit.

Managing waste generated by our direct operations

We manage all waste from our production sites with the objective of reducing it and applying the most sustainable waste treatment options available. We focus especially on our most valuable waste streams, such as tobacco, paper, cardboard, and cellulose acetate tow, as well as hazardous waste.

• Avoid and reduce: We work to minimize waste generation by converting raw materials into products as efficiently as possible. In 2025, we generated a total of 130,770 tons of waste, with hazardous waste accounting for 2 percent of it (2024: 133,151 tons, 2 percent). Our total waste generation remained largely unchanged year over year.
  
  
• Reuse and recycle: Beyond optimizing our processes to reduce waste, we strive to manage the waste we generate responsibly. We prioritize reusing materials or making them available to others. For example, we encourage the reuse of cardboard boxes to handle tobacco in our factories. Recycling represents another key path; in 2025, recycling accounted for 85 percent of our waste disposal. However, the increasing share of smoke-free consumables in our production mix and the expansion of our portfolio to include new products have lowered our recycling rate. To address this, we seek to implement appropriate technologies to help us improve the reuse and recycling of waste from these products.
  
  
• Recover: When recycling is not possible, we seek to recover waste materials and use them to generate energy. In 2025, we incinerated 13 percent of our waste with energy recovery, while 0.6 percent was incinerated without energy recovery or sent to landfill (2024: 14 percent, less than 1 percent).

Aiming for virtually zero industrial waste to landfill in our factories

We apply a “zero waste” philosophy, recognizing that even the most efficient systems inevitably produce a small amount of waste diverted to landfill, such as waste-to-energy ash residue and waste legally mandated for landfill.

Our ongoing ambition is for our manufacturing operations worldwide to maintain virtually zero waste to landfill, defined as a landfill diversion rate of 99 percent or greater. In 2025, we are proud that we achieved a 99.9 percent landfill diversion rate of our manufacturing operations globally, achieving virtually zero waste to landfill with only 0.1 percent of our operational waste (46 tons) going to landfill, while complying with all relevant waste regulations and standards.

Fostering responsible waste practices in our broader value chain

We seek to foster a positive impact on waste management practices in our tobacco supply chain. Our Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) require suppliers to maintain appropriate waste management plans. We also expect our tobacco suppliers to dispose of empty agrochemical containers safely and appropriately. In some countries, we provide additional support to ensure the collection and proper disposal of containers that held pesticides or crop protection agents, including guidance on triple rinsing and best practices on punching.