TerraCycle and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) are working together to keep cigarette butts off streets and out of landfills. Employees of OLG Slots at Dresden Raceway and other OLG locations across the province contributed to TerraCycle’s province-wide Cigarette Waste Recycling Program, which just reached a milestone of 39 million cigarette butts diverted from Ontario’s waste stream. By helping to keep cigarette butts out of landfills, OLG Slots at Dresden Raceway and other collectors earn points that can be redeemed for cash donations to the non-profit of their choice. Thanks to collectors like OLG Slots at Dresden Raceway, province-wide donations have just passed $29,000. “OLG has been a proud participant of TerraCycle’s Cigarette Waste Recycling Program since 2012,” said Catherine Jarmain, Director, Policy and Social Responsibility at OLG. “During this time, our site-led recycling programs have contributed to OLG’s environmental footprint reduction and have generated funds that sites then donate to local charities. Last year, OLG sites hosted a total of 14 TerraCycle waste recycling programs which collected 885 kilos of previously non-recyclable waste and raised over $1,900 for local charities. It’s gratifying to know that through one initiative we are improving the environment and, at the same time, helping those in the community who depend on local charities for important services.” TerraCycle is an international recycling company that finds innovative solutions for materials not typically accepted at municipal recycling facilities. The waste collected through the Cigarette Waste Recycling Program is recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and any remaining tobacco and paper is recycled as compost. “Every year, billions of cigarette butts end up in dumpsters and landfills, or get tossed as litter on shorelines, parks, and sidewalks across Canada” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “We have a big ‘thank you’ for the more than two thousand locations that have helped us collect 73 million cigarette butts through this recycling program.” Any individual, business or organization interested in reducing local landfill waste can learn more about TerraCycle at www.terracycle.ca.

Cleaning garbage off the streets of downtown Victoria can be a tedious, never-ending task, but a local group is always up to the challenge.   On weekdays, the Downtown Victoria Business Association's Clean Team, armed with green jackets and cleaning tools such as brooms, garbage cans, kitty litter and cleaner, comb downtown Victoria streets searching for garbage, such as cigarette butts, to pick up.   Over the past three years, they've collected thousands of cigarette butts. Now, the Clean Team, along with similar organizations around the country, have reached a new milestone — they have helped collect 73 million cigarette butts nationwide diverting them from the waste stream.   “It's an enormous number,” said Rob Caunter, manager of the Clean Team. “Not only does it improve the aesthetics of downtown, but it keeps cigarette butts out of storm drains, out of our oceans where fish could eat them, and ultimately out of our food sources.”   The Clean Team's cigarette butt recycling project is a partnership between the Surfrider Foundation and the City of Victoria, which began in 2014.   As part of the pilot project, cigarette butt canisters have been installed around the city, encouraging smokers to discard their butts in the canisters, rather than throwing them onto the street, where they often end up in storm drains and eventually the ocean.   “They're not biodegradable and they are jammed full of toxins that filter out of these cigarettes,” said Caunter, adding the canisters have been helpful in reducing the number of butts on the street, but more canisters are needed.   “It's like putting a million poisonous things in the ocean on an on-going basis.”   Every week, Clean Team members are tasked with emptying the canisters and picking up additional butts, which are then packaged and shipped off to TerraCycle Canada, a company that takes difficult-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable and innovative products, such as industrial plastics for palettes and garden benches.   The Clean Team is responsible for more than just picking up cigarette butts around town. Members also wash windows, doorways, and recesses of buildings, clean up graffiti and remove drug paraphernalia year-round.

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, through TerraCycle’s free, national Cigarette Waste Recycling Program, has helped the nationwide collection reach a milestone of 73 million cigarette butts diverted from the waste stream, it was announced March 2. Along with keeping butts out of landfills, collectors earn points that can be redeemed for cash donations to the non-profit of the collector’s choice. Through the efforts of collectors like Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, nationwide donations have just passed $53,500. “Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise has an extensive recycling program,” said Mortimer Capriles, environmental systems manager, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, in a release. “As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our environmental performance, the sustainability committee and the grounds team decided to start a cigarette waste recycling program in 2015, with the support of TerraCycle.” TerraCycle is an international recycling company that finds innovative solutions for materials not typically accepted at municipal recycling facilities. The waste collected through the Cigarette Waste Recycling Program is recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and any remaining tobacco and paper is recycled as compost. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle is a leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable postconsumer waste. It repurposes the waste into sustainable, affordable materials and consumer products. In 21 countries, the waste is collected through programs that donate money to schools and charities.

CORNWALL, Ontario - This Saturday, March 4, the St. Lawrence Power Development Visitor Centre joined the St. Lawrence River Institute in celebrating the Cornwall premiere of their documentary, “A Great River Runs Through Us.” The film follows last summer's Great St. Lawrence River Cleanup, giving people a glimpse into massive community undertaking.   The documentary was filmed by Vince Pilon over the course of five months, and showcases the partnerships between various community groups as they work together to restore the St. Lawrence River to its former glory. Partners included Raisin River Conservation Authority, the Seaway Valley Divers, Cornwall Lunker Club, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and Ontario Trillium Foundation, and more – all of whom played critical roles in facilitating the cleanup. “We are a throwaway culture,” said Karen Douglass Cooper, Communications Specialist, the River Institute. “It’s so obvious, it’s disturbing.” At one point, kerosene was being routinely pumped into the river to keep the foam down, said Douglass Cooper. “Kerosene was great at suppressing the foam – but we were pumping fuel into our river so we could hide that we were polluting our river.” “Delusion became the solution to pollution,” said Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Environmental Science Officer, Henry Lickers. “They’d just dump it into the river, and the St. Lawrence River became an alphabet soup.” Having pulled out shopping carts, a cash till, and more Tim Horton’s coffee cups than anyone could count, thanks to TerraCycle Canada, much of the garbage will be recycled at no cost to the city. With most of the hard plastics to be melted down and repurposed, things like cigarette butts will be primarily used for composting. Juice boxes, which were also a dime a dozen during the cleanup, will be turned into backpacks. “It’s really about bringing yourself into the community and understanding the way you should engage with the environment, that we all are a part of it,” said MCA Environment program's Abraham Francis. “We aren’t separate from it, we aren’t better than it, and it’s our responsibility to repair and aid what we’ve cause to it.”

Not everyone cares about keeping the West Coast clean, which means its up to volunteers to keep local shores pristine. After riding a swell of support last year, Surfrider Pacific Rim is ready to rip into 2017. “Surfrider has built a network of coastal defenders who transform a passion for our coast into a lasting protection,” said chapter-president Michelle Hall during a recent presentation to Tofino’s municipal council. “We’re fortunate to live in a place where passion for protection is in our blood and we’re a community of guardians including First Nations, environmentalists, scientists as well as ocean lovers, surfers, beach walkers and dog lovers.” She said the foundation laid solid groundwork in 2016 by raising awareness of its initiatives and engaging with the community. “We’re really inclusive to everyone and volunteers really enjoy the citizen feel of our organization,” she said. “Our voice is always positive and we’re always sharing solutions.” She added the foundation holds a public meet up at Tofino Brewing Company on the first Wednesday of every month. “We have a solid crew of 21 amazing people in Tofino and Ucluelet,” she said. “It’s a really good way for new people coming to Tofino and Ucluelet to get involved with their community.” The foundation welcomed over 250 volunteers to 24 beach cleanups in 2016, according to Hall, who said the five most commonly found pollutants were plastics, styrofoam, cigarette butts, fishing gear and recyclables. “In 2016 we collected almost 5,000 kilograms of marine debris from our pristine coastline,” she said. The local Surfrider crew earned huge accolades and widespread media attention with its Straws Suck campaign last year that saw 41 local businesses nix single-use straws from their operations and brought  increased awareness around plastic pollution. Hall said three major campaigns are in the works for 2017: an Ocean Friendly Business, Bring your own Bag and Hold onto your Butt. “The Ocean Friendly Business Campaign will invite all businesses in the Pacific Rim to reduce and eliminate single use plastics,” she said adding straws will continue to be targeted along with shopping bags, single-use cutlery and take-away packaging. “We are working on grants and sponsorships to launch this program.” She said the Ban the Bag campaign will promote the use of re-useable shopping bags and will include a bag-making challenge supported by Tourism Tofino that will test whether or not the West Coast can create 1,000 bags in time for the Pacific Rim Whale Festival in March. The Hang onto Your Butt campaign is aimed at eliminating cigarette pollution and features a unique partnership with TerraCycle, an organization that offers a variety of environmentally-minded programming including a Cigarette Waste Recycling Program. “The waste collected through the Cigarette Waste Recycling Program is recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets, and any remaining tobacco is recycled as compost,” according to TerraCycle’s website. Hall said Surfrider’s anti-cigarette waste program would help raise awareness of the impacts butts have locally. “A big part of the campaign is education. I don’t think an actual campaign or education around cigarette pollution has really been prominent in Ucluelet or Tofino,” she said. During her presentation in Tofino, Hall said Surfrider partnered with Ucluelet to install nine cigarette butt canisters throughout the community. She said Ucluelet’s public works crew empties the canisters and hands the butts off to Surfrider to recycle. “We hope that Tofino would do the same,” she said. “This wouldn’t just be a case of installing them and letting you guys empty them and that’s it, we plan on engaging the youth and doing lots of education at all of our beach cleanups and events throughout the year.” The canisters cost $100 each, according to Hall, and Tofino’s council agreed to buy one for their municipal hall immediately after Hall’s presentation. Coun. Greg Blanchette expressed admiration for the foundation’s quick rise. “Surfrider is really surging ahead in terms of volunteer engagement, community engagement and business engagement, in a way that, in my experience on the Coast, is basically unprecedented,” he said. “Congratulations on all of your successes.” Mayor Josie Osborne agreed. “I want to say thank you and really commend you, Michelle, for your leadership and Surfrider for everything that you do,” she said. “You really have gone above and beyond in terms of your community engagement and what I really appreciate is how positively everything is occurring.”

Did you know that, according to the Ocean Conservancy,  cigarette litter is not only the #1 item found during marine clean ups, but it is also the 4th deadliest ocean trash after fishing gear, plastic bags/cutlery and balloons? In fact, estimates suggest that globally, “1.69 BILLION pounds of butts wind up as toxic trash each year”  equating to as many as “4.95 trillion” butts. Certainly at a local level, cigarette litter is unsightly and a nuisance, but it also poses environmental problems as our storm sewers lead directly to local waterways.  Visualize what happens during a storm every time you walk past a littered storm sewer. We at ZuZu want to play a part in reducing cigarette litter in our downtown Barrie streets, one butt at a time. Our Terracycle Butt Collection receptacle is up and ready to receive. It’s already in use and we are encouraging smokers from near and far to place their cigarette litter in it as you pass by. But it’s only one and we need more available to make it easier and convenient to butt out. So we’re asking other business and property owners to invest a small amount and buy one ($100), mount it and let smokers know that we care about our downtown streets. It’s up to all of us to make a difference for our beautiful downtown.

FALLBROOK – The Fallbrook Beautification Alliance (FBA) introduces cigarette butt recycling to Fallbrook with the installation of its first TerraCycle cigarette receptacle. The test unit has been installed near a bench along the beautiful Pico Promenade, where discarded cigarette butts were littering the path and potentially washing into the watershed.

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. 

Dive Brief:

• A new study from Loyola University Chicago has found that cigarette butts are still the most common type of litter found at local beaches even though lakefront smoking has been banned since 2007, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
• The study analyzed data from cleanup efforts that occurred between April and October from 2003 to 2014. During that time, more than 57,000 pieces of litter were counted at Ohio Street Beach and nearly 42% of that was cigarette butts. This data was similar to other beaches, though food-related waste was more predominant at some locations.
• This study also found that beaches had more litter in the fall than during the summer, a sign that municipal cleaning efforts are effective during summer months. Community groups and volunteers have been holding events to keep the beaches clean and catalog data on litter for 25 years.

Dive Insight: These results follow the recent news of a Rochester Institute of Technology study that found nearly 22 million pounds of plastic waste in the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan was estimated to have the highest amount of plastic and cities such as Chicago were found to be playing a role in contributing to this problem. Based on previous research about litter along Chicago's beaches on Lake Michigan, the overall amount of waste — including cigarette butts — may be decreasing, though far too much is still ending up in the water. As noted by one of the study's co-authors, cigarette butts or food-related waste are easy to pick up and this problem should not be too difficult to solve. The Alliance for the Great Lakes and Chicago Park District launched a pilot program earlier this year where smokers could "vote" for various questions by placing their cigarette butts in special receptacles. This concept has also proven popular in Baltimore and many other cities. TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Recycling Program is facilitating the work in many of these cities and has reportedly processed more than 69 million tons of cigarette butt waste from thousands of locations so far. While the rate of smoking among U.S. adults continues to decline, these butts remain a small but toxic part of the waste stream that can be recycled if collected properly.

Recycling partnership to last ‘indefinitely’ Benches are a place to rest your butt. But what about a bench made out of butts? Cigarette butts, that is. Downtown Whitewater, Inc. has partnered with Terracycle, a non-profit organization based in New Jersey, to conduct an ongoing project in which cigarette butts are recycled into fiberglass and plastic materials to be reused for various projects, including creating park benches, recycling containers and playground equipment. “The city’s been wanting to do something for a while that would really encourage people to use a uniform receptacle downtown to prevent cigarette butts from ending up on the ground,” Director of Downtown Whitewater, Inc. Courtney Nelson said. Terracycle shipped several receptacles to Downtown Whitewater, Inc., which will be used to collect cigarette butts. When the holders become full, they will be shipped to the Terracycle facility, where the company will break down the cigarette filters and form them into fiberglass. The process of recycling the cigarette butts in various products is completed in three steps: Sterilization under special circumstances: In cases where cigarette waste is collected from a location with a high risk of contamination; the cigarette waste is sterilized using gamma radiation and tested for bacteria in the waste. Shredding and separation: In which cigarette waste is shredded and separated into organic and non-organic waste components. The organic waste is the tobacco, paper and ash, and the non-organic waste is the cigarette filter and packaging. Solution: Organic waste is sent to tobacco composting facilities. The non-organic waste is blended with other recycled material and pelletized to be used to create various recycled plastic products. Reducing landfill waste Volunteers and members of Downtown Whitewater, Inc. collected more than 18 pounds of cigarette butts off the ground around  city of Whitewater between April and November, Nelson said. Terracycle pays $1 to its partners for every full container of cigarette butts. Nelson said all funds gained through this project will be used to fund other green energy projects in the Whitewater community.   “It’s not a lot of money, but we’re getting funds from something that would otherwise go into a landfill,” Nelson said. “So it seems like a win-win for everybody.” Terracycle public affairs specialist Lauren Taylor said the organization was originally founded in 2001 as fertilizing company to reuse farm waste. Terracycle is partnered with 25 cities in the U.S., including Baltimore, Maryland, New Orleans, Louisiana, St. Louis, Missoui and Portland, Oregon. “For anybody who wants to try to keep waste out of a landfill, we want to be there to help with that process,” Taylor said. “We’d like to continue to grow to keep the value of resources to be reused, and we want to keep waste out of the environment.” A long-term partnership On how long the “The Butts to Benches” campaign will last, “the answer is indefinitely, Nelson said. The receptacles downtown are here to stay. “The canisters are permanent,” Nelson said. “We’ll keep sending cigarette butts for as long as Terracycle will accept them. We’re looking at this as a long-term partnership.” Downtown Whitewater, Inc. is looking to expand its partnership with Terracycle to include other zero-waste projects. Downtown Whitewater, Inc. also works with John’s Disposal Service, a recycling company that serves a multitude of cities in southern Wisconsin, to reduce the amount of waste in the community. Nelson said the number one thing people can do to help is to use the receptacles. “All the effort that went into getting the receptacles out here only pays off if people use them,” Nelson said. “We’ve placed them in locations where we had seen cigarette butts collecting on the ground.” Nelson said she hopes the receptacles are located in convenient places. “We ask that people scope out where they are and use them,” Nelson said. “We hope to see those who smoke disposing of garbage in a productive way. Walking the extra half block does really help in furthering green initiatives around the country.” Increasing Awareness Students Allied for a Green Earth (SAGE) Co-President Lorenzo Backhaus said the campaign will most likely have a positive effect on the Whitewater community and UW-Whitewater. “Eliminating waste and reducing pollution and reusing it is the answer to a lot of environmental issues,” Backhaus said. “Taking these cigarette butts that people have thrown on the ground and reusing them towards multiple peoples’ benefit is a great idea.” Backhaus said it would be even better to also conduct similar projects to reduce and reuse plastic waste to benefit many people. “This campus tries to recycle, but our labels on our garbage cans aren’t the best,” Backhaus said. “If we could just identify campus plastics and put more labels on our recycling and garbage cans, then we could show that we can send it somewhere to benefit people, and not just throw it in a landfill.” Approximately 3.5 trillion cigarette filters are littered globally, filled with toxic chemicals from tobacco smoke, make their way into our environment as discarded waste yearly, according to a Terracycle press release. In 2009, a Keep America Beautiful study found that cigarette waste accounted for 38 percent of all U.S. roadway litter, according to a Terracycle press release. “I don’t want to assume that all people don’t use [their cigarettes] all the way to the bottom,” Backhaus said. “But all these chemicals sitting on the ground definitely isn’t good for plants or animals. Birds will come up and try to eat it. Animals might mistake it for insects. To eliminate waste and reuse it for something is definitely a plus.” Backhaus said plastic can take up to one thousand years to biodegrade when it’s sitting in a landfill or floating in the ocean. “We’re a student org that’s fighting to make sure that [UW-Whitewater] is as sustainable and as green as possible,” Backhaus said. SAGE holds biweekly campus cleanups every other Sunday at 1 p.m. The location designated for volunteer cleaning varies per outing. Green vests, garbage bags and work gloves are provided to volunteers. Backhaus said the organization picks up two garbage bags worth of waste each time. Cigarette waste can be detrimental to the environment, Backhaus said. He hopes the message will be spread to many people to create more awareness on the program. Backhaus said offering this alternative method for disposing of cigarette butts will provide an incentive to put waste in a place where it will help improve the environment. “If people are educated and aware, they will be more entitled to participate,” Backhaus said. “Now that I’m aware of it, on our campus cleanups for SAGE, we’ll bring an extra bag and focus on picking up cigarette butts to throw them in the containers.”