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Circular Economy

Transitioning to a portfolio of Smokeless products presents challenges, particularly in relation to plastic waste. We seek to reduce our material footprint across our value chain and to understand and minimize the environmental impact of virgin raw material use.

 

Sustainability Articles

Reynolds American Organization Collaborates with Second Harvest Food Bank and Happy Dirt to Improve Food Insecurity and Promote Farmer Livelihood
December 19, 2024 3 min read

Reynolds American Organization Collaborates with Second Harvest Food Bank and Happy Dirt to Improve Food Insecurity and Promote Farmer Livelihood

We recently gathered at Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC’s headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC, to celebrate the first distribution of produce from Happy Dirt, an organization that sources diverse harvests from an extensive network of organic farms in NC and beyond, to over 425 families this holiday season.     Happy Dirt is a … Continued

Reynolds’ Packaging Team Featured for Sustainable Innovation in Packaging Digest
September 16, 2024 5 min read

Reynolds’ Packaging Team Featured for Sustainable Innovation in Packaging Digest

At Reynolds American Inc. (Reynolds American), a circular economy means innovating to use fewer resources, create less waste, and reuse and recycle products to create a self-sustaining ecosystem of materials. In the recent Packaging Digest article, Wesley Jones, Senior Director, Packaging & Materials; Laya Horton, Director, Packaging Development; and Michael Davis, Master Scientist, Materials Development, … Continued

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Tackling Cigarette Butt Littering

 

Cigarette butts do not biodegrade quickly and should not be littered.

 

We are committed to working with adult consumers to encourage responsible disposal. Research shows that adult consumer education and awareness-raising initiatives are successful measures. Our operating companies support a number of such initiatives and education campaigns.

 

We value their collaboration with organizations such as Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and TerraCycle® to help address the issue with effective and scalable solutions.

Source: Keep America Beautiful

$15 Million

Since 2009, the Reynolds organization has invested more than $15 million in cigarette litter education, prevention, cleanup, and recycling through Keep America Beautiful and TerraCycle.

Fighting Cigarette Litter

Learn how the Reynolds American organization’s partnership with Keep America Beautiful aims to eliminate cigarette litter.

Finding Use for Cigarette Waste

Discover how TerraCycle recycles cigarette litter into plastic storage containers and shipping pallets, park benches, and other usable items.

Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP)

 

Reynolds entities have been longtime supporters of Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP), the nation’s largest program aimed at eliminating cigarette litter since its inception in 2002.

 

Through KAB, the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) provides monetary donations to KAB’s affiliates across the country, allowing them to engage in litter prevention activities, including providing receptacle ashtrays, distributing pocket ashtrays, and conducting cigarette litter clean-ups.

 

CLPP is designed to empower community mindset change on proper butt disposal through education and receptacle points—but it doesn’t stop there. Through further collaboration, collected cigarette butts are sent to TerraCycle for recycling.

447 cigarette collection receptacles

In 2023, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, one of Reynolds American Inc.’s operating companies, funded the installation of 447 cigarette collection receptacles for recycling with TerraCycle.

 

TerraCycle focuses on reducing waste, including recycling hard-to-recycle materials, such as cigarette butts. To make the best of the cigarette waste, our operating companies and Keep America Beautiful collaborate with TerraCycle to keep that litter out of landfills and incinerators and instead reuse the composted and recycled materials.

 

Reynolds American operating companies have partnered with TerraCycle since 2012 on the Cigarette Waste Recycling Program, which provides adult volunteers across the country the opportunity to recycle cigarette butts through TerraCycle. The recycled materials are used to make useful items such as composite lumber, storage containers, furniture, plastic shipping pallets and more.

 

TerraCycle uses a start-with-waste model that utilizes its network of financial partners, processors, manufacturers, and vendors to form partnerships that will execute a through-the-line process that ensures that butts are recycled into new items.

Unlike 98%

of single-use plastics1, cigarette filters are not derived from fossil fuels.

1 https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/

The Recycling Process

Swipe through to learn more

Waste is sent to TerraCycle

TerraCycle extracts the Cellulose Acetate material from the cigarette waste.

TerraCycle extracts waste material

Upon extraction, TerraCycle recycles the waste into usable formats like plastic pellets for the end-user base.

Waste is recycled into various products

Residual organic components such as ash, tobacco, and paper are separated and composted.

terracycle.com

Learn more about TerraCycle’s recycling programs and solutions

 

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Future-minded Programs for New Category Products

 

Our transformation from Combustibles to New Category products brings additional challenges – products with different environmental profiles, such as vapor products containing lithium-ion batteries, and changes to resource use. Our operating companies are consistently working to improve circularity and to create less overall waste.

 

We care about what happens to our products after they are used, and our goal is to eliminate waste in our environment by providing an accessible method for responsible disposal. In partnership with leading recycling organizations, our operating company R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company (RJRV) provides recycling options for products and pods2.

Providing a Responsible Battery Disposal Solution

Learn how Call2Recycle makes proper battery disposal easy.

Responsible Vapor Pod Disposal

Proper and eco-friendly pod disposal made simple.

Call2Recycle® is the country’s leading consumer battery recycling and stewardship program. On behalf of RJRV and other corporate stewards, Call2Recycle optimizes the collection and management of batteries.

 

Call2Recycle offers an alternative to improper battery disposal, helping to prevent fires, pollution and materials going to landfill.

 

Adult consumers can drop-off used batteries for free at thousands of accessible, convenient locations across the U.S., including The Home Depot, Lowe’s and Staples.

 

The Call2Recycle® program provides a positive, proactive environmental solution for R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company (RJRV)’s products, while adhering to regulation in those jurisdictions that require collection.

 

A major component of the Call2Recycle® Basic North American Program is public education on the importance of participation in battery recycling efforts. Call2Recycle performs battery collection and recycling.

RJRV has partnered with g2 revolution® to allow adult consumers to properly dispose of vapor pods, tanks and cartridges.

 

g2 revolution® breaks down vapor pods, tanks, and cartridges for recycling, and repurposes leftover e-liquid rinse water through a waste-to-energy program.

 

g2 revolution® accepts vapor pods, tanks, and cartridges from many states. To request a recycling envelope, visit g2 revolution®.

The Recycling Process

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Collection

Personnel will fill the collection container with allowable nicotine-containing products for recycling.

Shipping

RJRV adult consumer will fill the Return Kit with vapor pods, tanks, and cartridges and ship to g2 revolution®.

Processing

The nicotine-containing product will be de-packaged and disassembled in preparation for nicotine reclamation.

Recycle

Usable nicotine will be recovered and marketed for use in manufacturing new smoking cessation products. Batteries will go to battery recycling and any electronic components such as chargers or USBs will go to electronic recycling. Packaging will also be recycled.

g2rev.com

Learn more about g2 revolution’s services and programs

 

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New category products that support our vision to create A Better Tomorrow™ by Building a Smokeless World rely on different resources, presenting unique challenges in sourcing materials, production, and responsible disposal. Our operating companies are consistently working to improve circularity and to create less overall waste.“

-Wesley Jones, Senior Director of Packaging & Materials within the Reynolds American organization

Wesley Jones

Sustainable Packaging Materials

 

Embedding sustainability into all our activities including the packaging of our products continues to be a priority. We have implemented several initiatives to make product packaging more sustainable. We aim for all packaging to be recycle-ready by 2025.

1 - 4

We advanced sustainable forest management by transitioning cigarette packaging to paperboard certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.

R.J Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) replaced the foil inner bundle in most RJRT cigarette packs with paper inner bundle in an effort to increase recyclability3.

Our operating companies are educating adult consumers on proper waste disposal and recycling through product labeling on 95% of packs in the cigarette product portfolio.

2 On average, Call2Recycle recycles about 70% of the weight of RJRV vapor devices. g2revolution recycles RJRV vapor pods, tanks, and cartridges, and it repurposes leftover e-liquid rinse water through a waste-to-energy program. The RJRV vapor recycling program is available only in the limited areas where we offer an appropriate recycling program. RJRV vapor products may not be recyclable in your area.

 

3 Exterior plastic poly wrap and paper pack must be separated by the adult consumer in an effort to ensure the pack is recyclable. Recyclability is subject to local law and infrastructure. Check with local recycling facilities regarding acceptance.