Recycling cigarattes
There are many who care for the environment and hence do everything they can to revive it. Let us know about two brothers who are doing this.
Background Cigarette waste is a non-biodegradable waste comprising cellulose acetate and takes more than TEN years to decompose. A single cigarette butt can contaminate over 500 ml of water and contains more than 50 toxic chemicals that can harm marine and aquatic life if leeched into the environment.
A whopping 6.5 trillion cigarette butts end up as litter making cigarette butts the topmost littered item worldwide. Also, one kilogram of cigarette waste contains above 3,500 cigarette butts. Cigarette butts were invented in 1960- 1970 as a promotional feature by cigarette manufacturers - later made mandatory for various reasons. In India, no specific guidelines or regulations are available for appropriate cigarette waste management and recycling. Providing an end-to-end solution to this alarming problem became the inspiration to incept Code Effort Private Limited in 2018.
Naman Gupta and his elder brother Vipul Gupta started Code Effort Private Limited on 25th September 2018. They came across the problem of cigarette butts in Noida. In 2018, they witnessed the huge number of cigarette butts ending as general litter in our environment. It increased his curiosity about understanding the after-life of cigarette butts. It led him to develop an end-to-end solution to efficiently recycle cigarette butts into multiple products - such as home decor, toys, and more. Standard Operating Procedures Firstly, anybody can volunteer and send/donate their cigarette butts to us for recycling. Every volunteer gets gifts and incentives for their support. Secondly, we engage with 2000+ rag-pickers across India to collect cigarette butts. It helps us increase our collection rate and foster livelihood opportunities for these rag-pickers. Lastly, we do end-to-end sustainability campaigns for companies to maximize our impact and quantities. They recycle cigarette fibres using biodegradable and organic chemical compositions. After treatment, the materials undergo a quality and lab testing process before further application. They are certified and utilize these recycled fibres as stuffing inside hand-made accessories, artefacts, cushions, furniture items, gift items, mattresses, pillows, textiles, toys, yarns, and many more. The tobacco is decomposed using 100% natural microorganisms and converted into compost powder. Their composting is aerobic - unlike traditional anaerobic processes to ensure that the leachate doesn't harm the soil and groundwater. The paper is ground into a pulp and later formulated into mosquito repellents using specialized ingredients and fragrances. Moreover, they are developing recycled paper products such as stationery, packaging, and more from recycled cigarette wastepaper.
Knowing their passion, I am sure we shall hear more about.
By Jamuna Rangachari
