Philip Morris International Inc: Producer Responsibility for Cigarette Butts

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WHEREAS:  Tobacco is a well-documented threat to human health. Less well known is its contribution to global plastic pollution. Cigarette filters are a form of single-use plastic.

Plastic, with a lifecycle social cost at least ten times its market price, threatens the world’s oceans, wildlife, and public health.[1] Concern about the growing scale and impact of global plastic pollution has elevated the issue to crisis levels.[2] Of particular concern is single-use plastic,[3] which makes up the largest component of the 24-34 million metric tons of plastic ending up in waterways annually.

Cigarette butts with plastic acetate filters are the most littered item globally with an estimated 4.5 trillion discarded annually, which results in an estimated 300,000 tons of plastic microfibers released each year into the environment. Cigarette filters do not biodegrade and can remain in the environment indefinitely in the form of microplastics. Discarded cigarette filters can contain more than 15,000 plastic microfibers and thousands of toxic chemicals. When cigarette filters are littered on streets and beaches, they can leach harmful pollutants into soil and water, including heavy metals and nicotine, which are toxic to fish and other sea creatures.[4]  At concentrations of one cigarette butt per liter of water, testing indicates the toxins are lethal to small fish and planktonic organisms.[5]

Annual cleanup costs for littered filters are significant, including $2.6 billion for China and $766 million for India.[6] Cleanup costs have traditionally been borne by taxpayers rather than the industry placing these problematic products on the market. As a producer of plastic waste, our Company should take more financial responsibility for the cleanup of its cigarette filter/butt waste. The European Union’s Single-Use Plastics Directive imposes Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on tobacco producers to cover the costs of collecting and processing cigarette filters; Denmark, France, and Spain have already imposed cleanup fees.[7]

More than 100 companies support EPR laws requiring them to finance the collection of waste packaging to keep plastics from becoming uncontrolled waste.[8] U.S. EPR tobacco laws to cover the costs of collecting and treating butt filters would address the pollution problem and create a level playing field for cigarette manufacturers. In the interim, Philip Morris International should voluntarily contribute funding to U.S. state or municipal governments to finance existing filter collection and cleanup efforts where they are not adequately funded.

BE IT RESOLVED:  Shareholders request that Philip Morris issue a public report, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary information, assessing the reputational, financial, and operational risks associated with failing to take responsibility for filter cleanup costs and the benefits to the Company of promoting extended producer responsibility laws for spent tobacco filters.

Resolution Details

Company: Philip Morris International Inc

Lead Filers:
As You Sow

Year: 2026

Filing Date: November 2025

Initiative(s): Consumer Packaging

Status: Filed

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