Sustainability in Consumer Products

3M has been a leader in Sustainability for decades. In the Consumer Business, 3M has worked to continuously improve the Sustainability of our manufacturing operations. For example, we are proud that our Cynthiana, Kentucky plant, maker of Post-it® Notes, has maintained zero waste to landfill status since Q4 2016. And our Hutchinson, Minnesota plant, which makes Scotch® Magic™ Tape and other products, reduced its energy use by 18.4% from 2000-2018 and reduced its water use by 54% over the same period. In addition, in 2018, 91% of the waste from this plant was either reused, recycled, or converted to energy. Quite simply, you can be assured that 3M is committed to manufacturing our products responsibly.

More importantly, our commitment to Sustainability does not end with our manufacturing operations. The 3M Consumer Business team is also working to make our packaging more sustainable. This entails everything from reducing the amount of packaging, using packaging materials that can easily be recycled, and using packaging materials made from recycled content.

We are also building Sustainability Value Commitments into the products we sell to consumers. Examples of Sustainability Value Commitments for new products include reusability, recyclability, energy/waste/water savings, responsible sourcing, and/or recycled or renewable raw materials. This commitment also includes products with a core purposed of helping to solve an environmental or social challenge, such as improving air quality or improving worker safety.



Sustainability Stories: Office Products

Sustainability Stories: Office Products


Sustainability Stories: Home Improvement Products

  • Furnace filtration with less waste.

    Filtrete™ Basic and Clean Living Air Filters are going metal free, which translates to less pounds of waste to the landfill.

    Consumer, Product,Home Improvement
  • Wash your car without water. Really.

    Meguiar’s® Ultimate Waterless Wash & Wax is a mist on, wipe off care wash that eliminates the need for a hose or bucket.

    Consumer,Product, Home Improvement
  • “Clean your room” takes on a whole new meaning.

    Filtrete™ Air Filters, the most trusted brand¹ on the market today, now offer a powerful new solution to helping improve indoor air quality.

    ¹ Based on 2018 TNS Brand Health Tracker

    Consumer, Product,Home Improvement
  • Preparing is preventing

    Solvent free coatings used in ScotchBlue™ Original Painter’s Tape #2090 help reduce factory emissions.

Sustainability Stories: Home Improvement Products


Sustainability Stories: Home Care Products

Sustainability Stories: Home Care Products


Sustainability Stories: Consumer Health Care Products

Sustainability Stories: Consumer Health Care Products


Packaging & Manufacturing Sustainability Stories

  • Recycle me.

    The 3M Consumer Business Group is working to make its packaging recyclable. The first step is eliminating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from our packages.

    Consumer,Manufacturing,Home Care
  • Tonawanda water conservation.

    3M Tonawanda, the world’s largest sponge-making location, reduced their water usage by 25% with an innovative change to their manufacturing process.

    Consumer,Manufacturing,Home Care
  • Giving much to the community and nothing to landfill.

    Employee team at 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky works to achieve “zero landfill” status.

  • Less is more.

    3M packaging reduction project helps eliminate excess weight and shipping materials on 24 Command™ Brand Damage-Free Hanging products.

Packaging & Manufacturing Sustainability Stories


Social Sustainability Stories

Social Sustainability Stories


  • How2Recycle® logo
    • In June 2018, 3M became a member of the How2Recycle program. This program was designed by GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition to provide consumers with clear instructions for recycling packaging materials.
    • 3M is joining 90 other member companies committed to educating consumers on packaging recyclability by providing clear on-package instructions. This membership supports 3M’s efforts to improve the Sustainability of our products and packaging.
    • Within the 3M Consumer Business, we will continue to expand the use of How2Recycle labels onto more packages in the future.