The campaign sends much of the collected waste to TerraCycle, a company that is able to recycle the butts, turning the plastic into industrial-grade products like plastic pallets. Vancouver, where people litter a million cigarette butts a day, was the first city to pioneer this partnership with TerraCycle, installing 110 cigarette butt recycling bins in its downtown area in 2013.

The campaign sends much of the collected waste to TerraCycle, a company that is able to recycle the butts, turning the plastic into industrial-grade products like plastic pallets. Vancouver, where people litter a million cigarette butts a day, was the first city to pioneer this partnership with TerraCycle, installing 110 cigarette butt recycling bins in its downtown area in 2013.

The campaign sends much of the collected waste to TerraCycle, a company that is able to recycle the butts, turning the plastic into industrial-grade products like plastic pallets. Vancouver, where people litter a million cigarette butts a day, was the first city to pioneer this partnership with TerraCycle, installing 110 cigarette butt recycling bins in its downtown area in 2013.

The campaign sends much of the collected waste to TerraCycle, a company that is able to recycle the butts, turning the plastic into industrial-grade products like plastic pallets. Vancouver, where people litter a million cigarette butts a day, was the first city to pioneer this partnership with TerraCycle, installing 110 cigarette butt recycling bins in its downtown area in 2013.

At the end of the season, these groups will collate the numbers and send the cigarette butts to Terracycle, where the plastic component of the filters will be recycled into plastic items such as park benches. The results of the pilot project will be shared with the CVRD as the CVNHE advocates for the purchase and installation of permanent ashtrays starting in those areas closest to the ocean.

The individuals that led this conversation included Lindsay Clinton, the Senior VP of Industry Initiatives at the NYCEDC, and Michael Waas, Global VP of Brand Partnerships for TerraCycle. According to both Clinton and Waas, in order for the circular economy to work, there must be a mind shift and behavioral change, and TerraCycle does this by having elementary schools partake in its programs because the passion that young people have is very impactful.

The receptacles are to be transported to TerraCycle, a Canadian subsidiary of a company based in Trenton, N.J., that specializes in handling hard-to-recycle material.

The network employed by the tribe also extends to non-local programs such as Clean the World, which sterilizes and reprocesses used hotel amenities such as soap, shower gel and shampoo, and sends them in hygiene kits to undeveloped countries; and Frontline International, which processes used cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel; Cups Are Recyclable, which collects and compresses foam cups, sends them to another company for processing into picture frames and crown molding; and TerraCycle, which turns cigarette butts into plastic shipping pallets, park benches and picnic tables.

In searching for a recycling company that can handle cigarette butts, Brightman found New Jersey-based Terracycle, which offered what he described as an innovative mission to eliminate waste. Terracycle partners with leading consumer companies, retailers, and cities to recycle products and packages, from dirty diapers to cigarette butts, that would otherwise end up in landfills

Germain said Friday that the cigarette butts will be collected every seven days from the receptacles and sent to TerraCycle, a Trenton, New Jersey-based recycling company that will use them to make new products like benches and tables. "It's the first municipal cigarette recycling program on Long Island," Germain said as she stood next to a receptacle recently installed at a Port Washington bus stop.