Positive Story of the Day: Eco-entrepreneur devises solution to recycle the most littered item – Cigarette Butts

Eco-entrepreneur Naman Gupta, drew inspiration from a huge pile of cigarette butts left over from just one party, and created a multi-crore business idea while reducing their impact on environment.

This menace to environment, which takes more than 12 years to degrade, is the most littered item impacting the environment negatively.

His company, CODE Effort, has installed bins in cities to collect these butts, recycling them into products like soft toys, Organic Compost, Mosquito repellents, cushions and even key rings. His company since 2016, has recycled around 300,000,000 cigarette butts (100,000 kg) and made profits of over Rs. 7.5 Crores.

Naman, 26 year old from Uttar Pradesh in India, points out that it’s a general misconception that cigarette filters are of cotton, and hence they do not understand the extent of ecological degradation this plastic is actually causing.

“I am passionate, it’s not just about the money, we are doing it to service society and tackle the problem society has and provide the solution,” Naman says.

It was a completely new concept in India, when he, then a Delhi University final year Commerce student, decided to start the first cigarette recycling company in India—CODE Effort.

These butts used to filter out the tar from the cigarettes, while littering the environment also produces microplastics in the process, which can inhibit plant growth in soil, and are highly toxic to aquatic life.

Today the company collects up to 6,000kgs of cigarette filters every month, which are deposited into waste receptacles called VBins outside street vendors and paan shops. These vendors even receive a fee for keeping these bins.

Once the butts enter the factory the workers split it into three parts—the filter, paper, and leftover tobacco.

These filters—made of a plastic called cellulose acetate—is shredded, chemically treated for 24 hours, and then made into stuffing for cushions, soft toys, and squishy keyrings. The paper and tobacco are turned into compost which is sold to farmers and growers, or turned into domestic mosquito repellents. Even the waste water produced in the process is re-used.

CODE Effort, an acronym denoting Conserving Our Depleting Environment, has not stopped researching. It now is looking at ways to convert these butts into air purifiers to tackle the air pollution menace in Indian cities.

Naman says, “There were a lot of critics—the problem of waste as a whole is an underrated topic, not everyone is very keen in discussing climate change and waste management. I believe and have faith in God that if you are serving society he will help us overcome all the hurdles and take us to success.”

He said: “Our business model is on a mission to eradicate cigarette waste in our society in an environmentally-friendly manner. Personally I don’t mind if somebody is smoking, that is their choice, but if they are disposing of it inappropriately then I am a bit concerned and I want to change their habit slowly.”

“I want to encourage people to quit smoking and switch to better habits because then the problem of cigarette butts will automatically solved.”