Mégot Zéro is a campaign headed by the Société pour l'action, l'éducation et la sensibilisation environnementale de Montréal (SAESEM) that would like to see fewer cigarette butts on our streets. They have partnered with the City of Montreal as well as TerraCycle to make this happen. The project began in June 2016 when cigarette butt receptacles were placed in busy thoroughfares such as downtown, the Village, and Old Montreal, all in the Ville-Marie borough, enabling smokers to have an alternative place to dispose their butts. The butts are then collected weekly and shipped to TerraCycle in Toronto (with whom A Greener Future also partners) where they are composted and recycled.
I had the chance to touch base with SAESEM’s project manager Myriam Plante via email who was able to give me more insight on the project and where it’s headed. When asked why she thinks throwing butts on the ground has become so acceptable, Ms. Plante answered that the problems related to cigarette butt litter are not discussed as often as they should be. She says that people start to feel bad when they learn about the toxicity of the butts and the harm that they can do to the environment. Therefore, besides providing public ashtrays for those who smoke, education is also an integral part of the project. SAESEM has spread the word of Mégot Zéro to the restaurants, shops, and citizens of the neighbourhoods where their ashtrays are located letting them know what the project is about. Surveys were also conducted after installation for feedback on the project. Since the project has been well received in the participating neighbourhoods, the ashtrays there will stay put with another borough ready to jump on board in 2017. They also have received extensive media coverage from news outlets such as the CBC, Huffington Post, CTV, and Radio-Canada which has helped get their message across to larger audiences. SAESEM has plans to expand next year by working with private organizations while continuing their partnership with the city. Since June, the organization has recovered 200,000 butts from both their public ashtrays and other collaborations.
Montreal is the third city in Canada to have a cigarette butt recycling project in place. The first two were in Toronto and Vancouver, the latter being the world’s first city to embark on such an endeavour.
Cigarette Butts
Every year, cigarette butts end up in landfills, or they are tossed as litter on shorelines, parks, and footpaths across Australia. Terracycle Australia is, with the help of the tobacco industry in Australia (British American Tobacco Australia, Philip Morris Limited and Imperial Tobacco Australia) collecting cigarette butts to be recycled into a variety of useful products, such as park benches and rubbish bins. Check out the waste recovery opportunties with Terracyle via the link.
The Environmental Services department took ABA’s top prize in the category due to their efforts in 2015 when Foxwoods converted nearly 8,000 tons of waste to clean energy, enough to power more than 750 homes for a year, meet the fresh water needs of over 63,000 people and produce nearly 120 million sheets of paper. Through the Terracycle program, the property also recycled over one million cigarette butts.
A Metro Vancouver mayor is pitching a B.C.-wide return-it deposit for cigarette butts — similar to the fees charged for pop cans and beer bottles — as a way to keep the litter from contaminating storm drains and local waterways.
A Metro Vancouver mayor is pitching a B.C.-wide return-it deposit for cigarette butts — similar to the fees charged for pop cans and beer bottles — as a way to keep the litter from contaminating storm drains and local waterways.
En France, de nombreux mégots de cigarettes sont jetés par terre alors qu’ils pourraient être collectés en vue d’être… recyclés en nouveaux objets. Des entreprises ramassent les mégots dans les bureaux.
Été 2013. Il trouve la plage trop sale à son goût. Abdes Bengorine, volontaire, se munit alors d’une bouteille en plastique vide et ramasse, chaque jour, les mégots de cigarettes jetés par les passants.
Mauvais élèves de l'Union Européenne, les Français résistent encore et toujours aux prix exorbitants des paquets et achètent chaque année près de 60 milliards de cigarettes. Autant de mégots qui, une fois jetés dans la nature, polluent pendant une douzaine d'années avant de disparaître. Notre chroniqueuse Fanny Rabu a la tête qui fume face à tant de déchets. Elle a ciblé quelques solutions novatrices.
L’amende pour les fumeurs parisiens jetant leurs mégots par terre dans la rue est montée à 68 euros en septembre 2015.
Dans le cadre de son dispositif "anti-mégot", la mairie du 9ème arrondissement a lancé une expérimentation : elle met à disposition de dix restaurants et bars des boîtes de recyclage de mégots. Les mégots sont ensuite envoyés à TerraCycle, qui, par un processus innovant, les recyclera en plaques de plastique et en compost. (en photo, un autre dispositif dans le 9ème pour recycler les mégots)
Alors que de nombreuses personnes fument et polluent la planète, les mégots ont désormais une utilité dans le cycle du recyclage.
Le tabac, ce n’est pas très bon pour la santé, pourtant il est difficile de sortir de sa dépendance. Si aujourd’hui, de nombreuses solutions sont mises en place pour aider les gens à réduire leur consommation de nicotine, certains n’ont pas la volonté nécessaire pour
arrêter de fumer.
