Across the country people are starting to notice the unpleasant sight of cigarette butts. To help solve the problem of cigarette butts polluting the environment, Terracycle partnered with tobacco companies to create a recycling program, embracing a partner often shunned by the sustainable community. But together they created the “butt box” to allow people to recycle butts, solving a major trash issue (Terracycle’s goal). The trick, as Tom Szaky of Terracycle says, is to be upfront with the public about your issues and how you’re solving them: “One of the most important things brands can do is acknowledge they have an issue and say what they are going to do about it. … This is empowerment.”