Butt Bricks

An engineer at RMIT University in Melbourne, has proposed re-purposing this waste into bricks for building. Bricks produced using cigarette waste are cheaper and less energy intensive than traditional bricks. The cigarette butts are mixed into traditional clay bricks, reducing the energy required by 58 percent. The resulting bricks are more insulating, which would cut down the cost of heating or cooling a home, and easier to move due to their lighter weight.

He believes that his techniques could make a huge dent in the problem of global pollution. “Incorporating butts into bricks can effectively solve a global litter problem as recycled cigarette butts can be placed in bricks without any fear of leaching or contamination.”

New York has its own solution to butts. Assemblyman Michael G. DenDekker, of Queens New York recently found out that cigarette butts can be turned into all kinds of useful things, so he proposed a bill for a cigarette recycling program for New York City. It would charge a one cent deposit on each cigarette to partially fund the recycling program and get those butts off the street. I presume the remainder of funding will come from all taxpayers, smokers or not.

A clothing maker in Brazil turns cigarette butts into fabric.

The Cigarette Waste Brigade pilot project recently began in Vancouver, Canada. The program’s first step was to install 110 recycling receptacles in four downtown areas where discarded butts are commonly found. The collected butts will be recycled into usable building materials such as planks and shipping pallets.