TRENTON — Trenton-based recycler Terracycle is making no butts about it, they’ve got big changes coming their way thanks to a new partnership with a cigarette manufacturer. The recycler announced last week that it has teamed up with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, makers of Natural American Spirit cigarettes, to launch a program aimed at collecting and recycling cigarette waste. The cigarette waste, according to a release from Terracycle, can be seen littered about in nearly every public place from sidewalks and roadways, to parks and shopping malls. Cigarette waste is a pervasive form of litter that Terracycle, along with the help of its new partnership, has led to the development of a creative solution to make use of discarded cigarette butts. “You don’t have to walk or drive very far to see that smokers often discard cigarette waste in ways that litter the environment,” said Cressida Lozano, the head of sales and marketing for SFNTC in a release. “Our company has been committed to environmental sustainability since we were founded 30 years ago, and we’re proud to be the exclusive sponsor of an innovative program to reduce and recycle cigarette butt litter, regardless of which manufacturer made the cigarettes.” According to the release issued by Terracycle, over 52 million cigarette butts were collected from beaches during the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup Day in the past 25 years. Terracycle aims to turn the previously undesirable cigarette butts into items like shipping products, plastic lumber, railroad ties and other industrial items after the waste is converted into plastic pellets. Zakes said that while the plastic pellets are carcinogen and toxin free, Terracycle declined to turn them into consumer products based on the stigma that cigarettes carry. Instead, the company decided that the pellets could be used to make industrial products. One of these products, which the company had on display at its offices were plastic shipping pallets, which Zakes told The Trentonian are more durable than wooden pallets that are prone to breakage. According to Terracycle the cigarette butts are processed in the town of Portland, Pa., which is located in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. The company said that the paper and remaining tobacco will be composted, while the largely plastic filter medium is melted down and converted into a toxin-free plastic pellet that will eventually be used to create new products, which according to Zakes would have previously called for the use of virgin material, meaning companies would be creating more new plastic. Despite the stigma based around cigarettes, Terracycle ensured that the raw pellets are safe and toxin free by treating them to a round gamma radiation. “People might think that (gamma radiation) is a scary thing,” said Zakes. “But it’s not, it’s the same process used to kill bacteria like salmonella in food.” At the Terracycle lab on New York Avenue, samples of similar pellets were displayed along with products that they could be transformed into. Among the products on display were parking space dividers and plastic sheeting created from a similar pellet material. The shift to creating plastic pellets is what Zakes called a “game-changer” for the company as it allows them to become a supplier to other businesses that will create products from the recycled raw material. Terracycle said the program which they refer to as the Cigarette Waste Brigade, is free to participate in and will help to divert cigarette butts from landfills. Those who wish to participate and are over the age of 21 can sign up on the company’s website at www.Terracycle.com. Once they have signed up and created an account to be a part of the Cigarette Waste Brigade, they can collect butts from ashtrays and ash receptacles, place them into a plastic bag, which also will be recycled, and place the collected waste into a shipping box. After enough waste has been collected participants can sign into their account and print a prepaid UPS shipping label to return their box. Once the box is received, and the contents weighed, participants will earn credits that will be donated to Keep America Beautiful, a nonprofit community action and education organization. According to Terracycle the credits break down to about $1.00 per pound, which equates to about 1000 cigarette butts. “This is one of the most exciting developments in Terracycle’s history,” Szaky says. “As a company committed to recycling waste streams that others deem worthless or unsavory, cigarette waste will help to promote our belief that everything can and should be recycled” In addition to recycling cigarette waste, the company said it is working on transforming other harder-to-recycle items like diapers and chewing gum. With the partnership with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company has just launched in the United States Cigarette Waste Brigade, the company has also launched the program in Spain, Germany and Canada and said they’re working on further worldwide expansion.