Toronto, Canada based TerraCycle – which specializes recycling in hard to recycle products – has launched of a free program to collect and recycle cigarette waste in Canada.
The company said that in partnership with Canada’s largest tobacco manufacturer, its Cigarette Waste Brigade program will divert used cigarette butts, along with cigarette foil and plastic packaging waste, from landfills.
According to TerraCycle, cigarette filters were the number one item recovered during the annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in 2011, with 351,238 collected.
Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts are not biodegradable and do not break down quickly. The company said that this program will make this pervasive waste easily recyclable for the first time.
The company said that it has gained previous experience in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, ranging from food and beverage packaging to hospital waste, and that the collected cigarette butts will be recycled into plastic pallets for industrial use.
By making pallets from recycled cigarette waste, TerraCycle claimed that it will not only reduce the amount of litter in Canada, but also reduce the need to use wood or virgin plastic to make commonly used industrial pallets.
The organic parts of the waste – the paper and remaining tobacco – will be composted.
Everything but the recyclable cardboard box is accepted. Filters can be collected in receptacles – such as an ashtray – as usual. Collectors then deposit the waste in a plastic bag, which also gets recycled.
Once enough waste is collected, participants log into their account and print a free prepaid UPS shipping label to return their box at no cost.
TerraCycle said that once it receives the shipment, the participant’s account will be credited with 100 points (equal to $1) per pound of waste received. The points can be used to purchase charity gifts or converted to cash for donation to a charity or non-profit of the collector’s choice.
The company claimed that it has already kept more than two billion items of waste from going to landfill, and with its partners, dispersed more than $3.5 million to charity through its various Brigade programs.
This newest program joins 15 others that the company offers in Canada.
The recycling specialist added that it is currently creating solutions for other difficult-to-recycle but widely discarded waste streams, such as disposable diapers and used chewing gum.
Source: Waste Management World