Philip Morris, a world leader in the manufacture of tobacco products, is developing a series of projects in Central America to transform consumer waste into the generation of water filters, cement, electricity and construction materials, as part of its sustainability policies.

The impact of its initiatives has been presented as part of the forums held by the Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social (FUNDEMAS), prior to the Sustainability and CSR Week 2023, entitled "Trends that will mark the business agenda", to be held from october 10 to 12 in San Salvador.

"Sustainability is part of the core of the business, making better products, producing in a better way and taking care of my waste and my value chain", said Susana Vásquez, director of Internal Affairs of Philip Moris for Central America, highlighting the three projects being developed in the region: "Guate sin desechos", "Dale rumbo a tus colillas", in Costa Rica, and "El Salvador sin colillas", in collaboration with environmental NGOs, recycling companies, municipalities and counterpart institutions of FUNDEMAS.

The idea, he said, is to adopt sustainability as a strategic pillar of business in this industry and to continue generating public-private alliances as an effective and efficient vehicle for achieving common goals aimed at protecting the environment and generating value for consumers and communities.

Guate without waste

Guate sin desechos is a program for recycling smoking devices and consumables (cigars), which in turn promotes the correct disposal of waste. The campaign and the project include the establishment of 13 points of sale, which in turn are responsible for distributing cornstarch bags to consumers for disposal of their waste and subsequent delivery of the same. To date, 1.5 million units have been collected, equivalent to 1,850 kilos of waste, which are sent to industrial furnaces to generate thermal energy and cement.

Costa Rica give direction to your cigarette butts

Costa Rica is promoting the "Dale rumbo a tus colillas" campaign in a public-private partnership, together with local governments, aimed at raising awareness and educating consumers of cigarettes and electronic smoking devices. It includes setting up key points in municipalities with cigarette butt problems, placing cigarette butt collectors and, in collaboration with the Universidad de Costa Rica, working in an experimental phase to produce water filters with the collected material.

El Salvador without cigarette butts

In El Salvador, the Modo Verde Oriente initiative brings together FUNDEMAS, Philip Morris El Salvador, LERO Studio and the Universidad de Oriente (UNIVO). They have collected more than 30,000 cigarette butts, 33% of which were used for research purposes. Soil and materials laboratory tests, concrete slump and strength tests, proved that the fluidity of the mixture generates prefabricated concrete products suitable for non-structural elements such as perimeter walls, dividing walls or garden beds.

The idea is to close the year 2023 with five municipalities with their respective recycling stations for cigarette butts and different types of waste, for their proper treatment.

"Philip Morris is aware of the key role that research plays in the search for innovative solutions to mitigate the environmental impact of the waste generated by our products", said Philip Morris' Director of Internal Affairs.

Sustainability is not a voluntary aspect, it is mandatory, not only for compliance with the legal framework, but also because it is a license to operate and because it is what consumers expect from us. They expect less environmental impact, decarbonization, better conditions for employees and that we generate value for the community and are a market differential", concluded in the forum developed by FUNDEMAS, in which also participated Javier Zelada, strategic development manager of PBS Xerox El Salvador, a company that highlighted its program called "Promote, inspire, develop", as sustainability policy, focused on internal mentoring programs and a technology academy, both designed to impact young people and children of employees.

Sustainability week themes

Sustainability and CSR Week 2023 will be held on october 10, 11 and 12, with the participation of companies from various sectors, expert panelists, foundations, organizations and trade associations.

Tomás Regalado, president of FUNDEMAS, informed that the themes for this edition will be:

• Employability, what is the role beyond the private sector to be competitive at a global level
• Gender equity as part of competitiveness
• Climate change, commitments and actions

Translated by: A.M