TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Cigarette Butt Recycling, By Mail

TerraCycle Include USA Santa Fe
Separate your recycling: glass with glass, and cigarette butts with cigarette butts. The little smoked ends of filters that clutter street corners and beaches will be "upcycled" into pellets by Terracycle, according to SF Weekly. The company specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, and cigarette butts, with their cellulose acetate filters, are very hard to recycle. They are apparently also hard to throw away in a proper waste bin, with 65 percent of smokers discarding their butts on streets, in parks, or beaches -- anywhere but a trash can. TerraCycle will repurpose the cellulose acetate into shipping pallets, and is doing so in partnership with the Santa Fe Tobacco Company, which produces American Spirits. But there's no curbside collection: recycling-minded smokers will have to collect their butts in a plastic bag and mail them. Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations