Continue to link Now there is a way to recycle cigarette butts in the U.S. Put them in package with a sealable plastic bag, or garbage bag (making sure they are fully extinguished), download a prepaid shipping label from the link above, and call 1-800-PICK-UPS for next day pick up.

Now there is a way to recycle cigarette butts in the U.S. Put them in package with a sealable plastic bag, or garbage bag (making sure they are fully extinguished), download a prepaid shipping label from the link above, and call 1-800-PICK-UPS for next day pick up.

SAN DIEGO – A San Diego based organization that started a cigarette butt redemption program last year is about to embark on another innovative idea. Ripple Life will be the first group to send in cigarette butts to be recycled on a commercial level. In January 2011, avid surfer and beach lover, Curtis Baffico decided to start a program that paid people based on the amount of butts they collected. The redemption program was the first of its kind in the country and generated huge support in the social media world. Gregg Sullivan owns a surf shop in Ocean Beach. He heard about the program on Facebook and decided to get involved. “I was always picking up cigarette butts anyway, so I thought I might as well give it a try,” Sullivan said. “I started during my run, but then was bending down every five feet to pick them up.” Sullivan ended up taking about 20 minutes, twice a day to pick up butts. He kept a log and collected 28,000 butts. “Some days I could collect more than a 1,000 cigarettes, other days, I picked up 2,000,” he said. Baffico spent the last 18 months collecting and storing the public’s cigarettes. He now has more than 100,000. The butts are stored in eco-friendly, specialty containers at his home in Clairemont. “We’ve realized that the problem is much, much bigger than we ever imagined and it’s really sad because as quick as we’re picking up littered cigarette butts, they’re being replaced almost instantaneously,” said Baffico. Now, he has a plan for the old butts. Ripple Life has partnered with a large recycling manufacture, Terracycle, to recycle the filters. Cigarette filters are made out of plastic, so the process is similar to recycling a plastic soda bottle, according to Baffico. “We had three goals when we started the program. We wanted a cleaner and safer outdoors, a reduction of landfill waste and to recycle the cigarette filters,” he explained. “The third part has been the most challenging part of the project. We’ve had extreme difficulty finding anyone who wanted to anything with them.” Terracycle is based in New Jersey and already collects other reusable products and recycles them into consumer products. The company tells FOX 5, the cigarette butts will be converted into industrial pallets. Terracycle estimates it will take about 5,000 butts per pallet, but in reality, it won’t start the recycling process until the company collects hundreds of thousands of cigarettes to make the conversion process cost effective and environmentally friendly. Terracycle will also pay Ripple Life. $1 for every pound of butts donated. Ripple Life is the first group in the country to send in cigarettes to be recycled on a commercial level. “I think it shows other people in the nation who have a concern for this that it can be done,” Baffico said. Ripple Life had about 100 volunteers from around San Diego collect butts for the project. At times, the non-profit ran contests for collection. The redemption program will give collectors $3 per pound collected, but Baffico said most people don’t take the money. Instead they donate it to one of Ripple Life’s 10 supported charities. “What we’ve discovered is that a lot of people have are disgusted with the problem, but have less passion for getting out there and bending down and picking up butts,” Baffico admitted. Volunteers are always welcome to help Ripple Life.

The TACT is the single most important decision in persuasion. Who does What Where and When (Target Action Context Time) drives everything. Please consider this strange combination of a Green business making TACTs with Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms! Read the entire article, but consider here just this description of recycling cigarette butts. Our intention is to require as little change as possible in the habits of today’s smokers. That means that if you are at a bar or your home you would keep using your regular ash trays. The only change would be that the trays would be emptied into a plastic sandwich bag. That bag would then be placed in a box (like a shoebox or whatever you may have lying around). When it’s full, you would download a free shipping label from our Web site and send the box to TerraCycle to be recycled. We’re also going to offer a $1 donation to your favorite charity for every 1,000 butts collected. We have also thought about making a pocket version that would be a small envelope (with aluminum inside for fire safety) with a preprinted mailing label on it. The idea would be that you could put your smoked butts in it on the go. When it’s full, you could simply drop it in the mail.

Private companies are launching programs that not only encourage people to pick up the butts but also recycle them. Contrary to what many smokers may think, cigarette filters are not biodegradable: They are made with a plastic that can leach their toxic chemicals into the environment. In July, TerraCycle will begin providing free UPS shipping labels — paid for by an unnamed American tobacco company — so people can mail in butts they've collected. TerraCycle will turn the butts into plastic pallets for industrial use. Today, Eco-Tech Displays is starting a company, Cigarette Butt Litter Dream Recycling, to transform butts into products such as jewelry, vases and guitar picks. It collects the butts from hundreds of ashtrays that it has placed outside bars and restaurants in New York City, New Jersey and Chicago.

(USA TODAY) - Recycling has moved far beyond paper and plastic to tackle the nation's top litter problem: cigarette butts. Private companies are launching programs that not only encourage people to pick up the butts but also recycle them. Contrary to what many smokers may think, cigarette filters are not biodegradable: They are made with a plastic that can leach their toxic chemicals into the environment. In July, TerraCycle will begin providing free UPS shipping labels - paid for by an unnamed American tobacco company - so people can mail in butts they've collected. TerraCycle will turn the butts into plastic pallets for industrial use. Today, Eco-Tech Displays is starting a company, Cigarette Butt Litter Dream Recycling, to transform butts into products such as jewelry, vases and guitar picks. It collects the butts from hundreds of ashtrays that it has placed outside bars and restaurants in New York City, New Jersey and Chicago.

There's a company that desperately wants your used butts. Starting in July, TerraCycle will provide free UPS shipping labels (postage paid by a shadowy, unnamed U.S. tobacco company) so people can mail in their cigarette remnants for recycling. Why care about the butts? Like the rest of the cancer stick, the end is toxic, made with a plastic that emits dangerous chemicals into the environment, and it doesn't biodegrade. The discarded butts will be turned into plastic pallets for industrial use. Just make sure your ciggies are thoroughly snuffed before mailing. We don't want the already-struggling Postal Service to go up in smoke.

Attention smokers, don’t dump your stinky cigarette butts in the garbage,  you can now send them in free of charge to be recycled. Why? The filters are poisonous, and cigarette company’s want them back. According to MSN  Starting in July, TerraCycle will provide free UPS shipping labels (postage paid by a , unnamed U.S. tobacco company) so people can ship their butts to be recycled and made into plastic pallets. My question is how many people will bother doing this? Storing up enough of them to send in, and then bring them to a store to be shipped? It seems that people for the most part are more conscientious about where they throw their cigarettes than a few years ago, but you can still see them littered all over the streets. If you want to do your part to save mother Earth and not have them end up in a land fill somewhere now you have another option.

Some companies plan on launching programs that will encourage people to recycle cigarette butts. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable. Beginning in July, TerraCycle, a small business based in Trenton, New Jersey, will provide free shipping so people can mail in butts they've collected. Then the butts will be recycled into plastic pallets.