Shaping a smoke-free future

Tackling post-consumer waste: From awareness to action

At PMI, we’re focused on creating strategies to address the environmental impacts of our products. 

That’s why we’re embedding eco-design and circularity principles across all our product categories and rolling out programs that empower consumers to dispose of these products responsibly. 

For cigarette users, our awareness campaigns aim to change behaviors and make proper disposal second nature. For smoke-free product users, we’re designing tailored take-back programs that help keep devices out of the waste stream. 

Here are some of our key achievements: 

• In 2024, we expanded anti-littering awareness programs to 11 new markets—bringing the global total to 69. As of December 31, 2024, 92 percent of our cigarette shipment volumes were covered by these programs. 

• In 2024, markets representing 21.5% of our shipment volumes for smoke-free consumables had end-of-life take-back programs, up from 17.6% in 2023. 

• In 2024, 99% of our packaging formats were designed for recyclability, and we are driving towards our 2025 target of 100%. 

Progress matters. For everyone.

Across the globe, millions of adults have made the decision to leave cigarettes behind for good. This hasn’t happened by chance, but because they were offered better choices than continuing to smoke.   

From heated tobacco to e-vapor and nicotine pouches, smoke-free products are helping adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke switch to scientifically substantiated alternatives. And in some countries where progressive policies support access to these better choices, smoking prevalence is declining. 

Take Sweden, a prime example of how the availability and use of smoke-free alternatives can support putting an end to smoking. With the lowest smoking rate in the EU at 5.3 perecent, Sweden is on the cusp of going smoke-free, and this is likely thanks to snus and, more recently, nicotine pouches. 

Or Japan, where since the introduction of heated tobacco products in 2015, cigarette sales have substantially declined, and the country is well on its way to eliminating cigarettes entirely.

These aren’t isolated wins; they’re proof that when people have access to better alternatives, progress follows. 

Yet today, millions of adults still have no legal access to smoke-free products. Meanwhile, cigarettes remain widely available. 

This regulatory imbalance is creating a global divide and it’s time to close the gap. 

Progress should be a global standard, not a privilege. We call on governments to champion evidence-based policies that empower adult smokers to choose better. By embracing science and innovation, we can accelerate public health progress and make cigarettes obsolete. 

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