General	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
General	General Nature of Business Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. Historically, the Company has primarily served the tobacco industry through the manufacture and sale of paper and reconstituted tobacco products, which remains a key focus. We manufacture lightweight specialty papers used in manufacturing ventilated cigarettes, reconstituted tobacco used in producing blended cigarettes, and banded papers used in the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes. The Company also produces premium specialized papers for other applications and, through our Advanced Materials & Structures segment, is a specialty producer of resin-based plastic netting through an extrusion process, as well as certain meltblown products, machined plastic core tubes, and resin-based rolled products for use in other end segments, such as filtration, surface protection, medical and other industrials. The primary products we sell to the tobacco industry include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, which are used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, and reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes, reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for cigars. We sell these products directly to tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. We also sell a diverse mix of products to non-tobacco industries, including low volume, high-value engineered papers and commodity paper grades produced, among other reasons, to maximize our machine utilization. In December 2013, we acquired DelStar, Inc., or DelStar, a manufacturer of plastic netting and other resin-based products mainly focused on the filtration, industrial and medical market segments. The acquisition of DelStar diversifies SWM's global presence in advanced materials, particularly in filtration. In December 2014, we acquired in two separate transactions certain assets from Pronamic Industries, Inc. and Smith & Nephew's Advanced Wound Management Division, which complement the DelStar acquisition and which have been incorporated into our Advanced Materials & Structures (formerly Filtration) operating segment. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in October 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of Argotec Intermediate Holdings, LLC, or Argotec, a manufacturer of urethane films for specialty applications in high-growth surface protection and applications such as automotive paint protection, as well as glass lamination, medical and industrial products. This acquisition has been incorporated into the AMS operating segment. We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 18 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, which began operations in the third quarter of 2014, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, which produces RTL. As used in this 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

General

Nature of Business

Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. Historically, the Company has primarily served the tobacco industry through the manufacture and sale of paper and reconstituted tobacco products, which remains a key focus. We manufacture lightweight specialty papers used in manufacturing ventilated cigarettes, reconstituted tobacco used in producing blended cigarettes, and banded papers used in the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes. The Company also produces premium specialized papers for other applications and, through our Advanced Materials & Structures segment, is a specialty producer of resin-based plastic netting through an extrusion process, as well as certain meltblown products, machined plastic core tubes, and resin-based rolled products for use in other end segments, such as filtration, surface protection, medical and other industrials.

The primary products we sell to the tobacco industry include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, which are used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, and reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes, reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for cigars. We sell these products directly to tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. We also sell a diverse mix of products to non-tobacco industries, including low volume, high-value engineered papers and commodity paper grades produced, among other reasons, to maximize our machine utilization. In December 2013, we acquired DelStar, Inc., or DelStar, a manufacturer of plastic netting and other resin-based products mainly focused on the filtration, industrial and medical market segments. The acquisition of DelStar diversifies SWM's global presence in advanced materials, particularly in filtration. In December 2014, we acquired in two separate transactions certain assets from Pronamic Industries, Inc. and Smith & Nephew's Advanced Wound Management Division, which complement the DelStar acquisition and which have been incorporated into our Advanced Materials & Structures (formerly Filtration) operating segment. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in October 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of Argotec Intermediate Holdings, LLC, or Argotec, a manufacturer of urethane films for specialty applications in high-growth surface protection and applications such as automotive paint protection, as well as glass lamination, medical and industrial products. This acquisition has been incorporated into the AMS operating segment.

We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 18 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, which began operations in the third quarter of 2014, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, which produces RTL.

As used in this 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.