New technology / product development and value creation
The smoking ban has led to a huge increase in cigarette butts piling up on streets. It causes butts concentration in areas where a smoker must stay or extinguish a cigarette before proceeding. Bigger concentration areas, equals better availability and easier collection. And a huge volume of potential recycled raw material.
Innovation opportunities
• Cellulose fibers • Chemical residuis • Tobacco remains • Filter wrapping paper
Cigarette butt litter recycling initiatives
• Students in Brazil recycle cigarette litter into paper • Brazilian designer also uses recycled cigarette butt fibers and spins them with sheep wool into clothing • In Ohio an inventor has a patent pending to turn cigarette butts into adhesives and sealants • Chemical extracts from cigarette butts can be used to protect steel pipes from rusting, a study in China has found • Blake Burich has patented a way to recycle cigarette filters into car parts and products made out of recycled plastics • The Canadian multinational TerraCycle has developed a methodology recycling cigarette butts into plastic material • TerraCycle did a pilot program with British American Tobacco in Spain • TerraCycle and The City of Vancouver will launch the world's first cigarette-butt recycling program