3M has completed its goal of phasing out “forever chemical” manufacturing by the end of 2025, company officials say.

The Minnesota-based company had announced in December 2022 it would discontinue the manufacture of PFAS in three years.

By ending production of the family of chemicals — prized for their durability, heat resistance and nonstick properties, though they also toxically accumulate in the environment and human bodies — 3M closes a chapter that both made and cost the company billions of dollars.

However, the manufacturer behind Post-it Notes and Scotch tape still expects it will have to use third-party parts and products containing PFAS as some uses are “required by regulatory or industry standards,” according to 3M’s previous quarterly reports.

“The company intends to continue to evaluate beyond the end of 2025 the adoption of third-party products that do not contain PFAS to the extent such products are available and such adoption is feasible,” the report said, pointing to lithium batteries, circuit boards, seals and gaskets as especially tricky areas to find PFAS-free alternatives.

3M also has leftover PFAS inventory, and the company “has taken, and will continue to take, actions to address PFAS manufactured prior to the phase out,” officials said this week in an emailed statement.

3M pioneered many uses of PFAS and, in recent years, was selling more than $1.2 billion worth of PFAS-containing products, according to company filings.

The wind-down of PFAS production cost 1,200 jobs globally and affected more than 22,000 items 3M made and used, the company previously said.

As early as 2000, 3M said it would phase out the production of certain PFAS compounds after research brought to light the harms certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances cause.

The company has paid billions in legal settlements for environmental PFAS contamination in the U.S. and overseas. A massive suite of personal injury claims might start going to trial this year.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, 3M’s sales and earnings largely met or exceeded analyst expectations. Sales grew 2.1% to $6.1 billion to end the quarter, including $226 million in PFAS sales.

The company earned $507 million in the quarter or $1.07 a share, down 20% from the $728 million or $1.38 a share earned in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Earnings adjustments for the quarter included 39 cents a share for manufactured PFAS products.

(Brooks Johnson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.)

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