Area cigarette smokers now have a way to help keep Galesburg’s downtown area clean and help the environment while taking a smoke break. The Galesburg Downtown Council will finish installing a total of 25 cigarette recycling receptacles in the downtown area this Monday, and the organization may order 20 more in the future. The council installed the first five containers earlier this spring, and they were so well received that the council decided to order more for placement on streets including Main, Seminary, Ferris, Simmons and Cherry. TerraCycle, a small business headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey, provides the containers for $70 apiece. Once the plastic bags inside the containers become full of cigarette butts, the council can ship up to 10 pounds worth of them to TerraCycle. The company then melts down the cigarettes and packaging into a hard plastic that can be remolded to make products such as plastic pallets, and converts the leftover tobacco into compost, according to TerraCycle’s website. Keith Legge, operations director for the Downtown Council, said he has collected about 4 pounds of cigarette butts from Galesburg’s receptacles so far. He plans to send the waste off to TerraCycle when he collects about eight or nine pounds. “The (more) cigarette butts we can get off the ground and into any sort of container, that’s great,” Legge said. “They don’t end up in a landfill anywhere, so that’s a big plus.” The council installed the receptacles on streets in the Downtown Special Service Area, which runs approximately from Chambers Street to Cedar Street (running east to west) and from Ferris Street to slightly past Simmons Street (running north to south), according to a Galesburg Economic Development Districts map. The council focused on placing the containers in spots where its maintenance team noticed a plethora of cigarette butts, such as outside of restaurants and bars. Bob Bondi, board member and past president of the council, had the idea to bring the containers to Galesburg when he visited New Orleans for Thanksgiving last year and saw the containers in the French Quarter. The council installed one of the containers outside of his Bondi Building, and in a matter of weeks he could already see a difference. “It went from being kind of bad to being pretty cleaned up,” Bondi said. “I think the only cigarettes we see there is something that blows from another part of the street. The tenants in our building have been very respectful with using the container, and we appreciate their cooperation. “A total of 9,886 locations currently participate in the cigarette waste recycling program, according to TerraCycle’s website. In addition, for every pound of cigarette waste collected, TerraCycle donates $1 to the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. The Downtown Council will host a meeting this upcoming Wednesday, and its members could discuss the possibility of buying 20 more receptacles. “I think we as a council and a board are so far pleased with how well it’s been received, and the opportunities to clean up our downtown in a positive way,” Bondi said.

New Orleans sells the cigarette butts to a company called TerraCycle, based in Trenton, New Jersey at $4 a pound. The company then goes to work processing the butts into useful things. The organic parts of the butts, the paper and tobacco, are turned into compost. The tobacco is not used to make more cigarettes.

The City of Easton, PA has partnered with TerraCycle to run a pilot program to collect cigarette butts.TerraCycle donates $1 per pound to the Greater Easton Development Partnership,which is the group that runs the Easton ambassadors

EASTON, Pa. - A trash issue that has been a real drag in Easton is now becoming a money-maker. A new cigarette butt recycling program is helping a group that cleans the streets. The trash will be used to make recycled material and a little money for the Greater Easton Development Partnership.