It’s common knowledge that smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of lung cancer, that secondhand smoke is a health hazard, and that cigarette use is linked to dozens of other diseases and illnesses. But there is at least one good thing about cigarette butts: they can be recycled into useful products. Don’t cigarette butts disintegrate? Although any cigarette paper and tobacco that are tossed away break down, the butts themselves are not biodegradable, and they stick around for a long time. That’s because 95 percent of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic, made into super thin fibers to create a filter. Yes, cigarette butts can be useful and can be recycled, according to Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle, Inc., a company that has developed solutions for difficult-to-recycle items, including cigarette butts. TerraCycle has teamed up with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, which sponsors the Cigarette Waste Brigade®. In a New York Times article from April 2012, Szaky explained that the ash, paper, and tobacco are separated from the filters and the organic materials are composted. The remaining cellulose acetate is sanitized and molded via injection into plastics that are used to make plastic pallets and beams.