A new C-Tran recycling program will prevent thousands of discarded cigarette butts from going into landfills.
According to a news release, C-Tran started gathering all cigarette butts collected at Vine station receptacles in August 2018 and sending them to TerraCycle, a global, New Jersey-based recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle waste. Once received, the cigarette butts are separated by composition and melted into hard plastic. That material can then be used to make new recycled industrial products, including plastic pallets, according to TerraCycle. Any remaining tobacco and ash is recycled as compost.
C-Tran states that as many as 1 to 2 pounds of cigarette butts are discarded at Vine stations every week. That’s the equivalent of roughly 2,000 to 4,000 individual butts. By packing them up and shipping them for recycling, it keeps a huge volume of waste from ending up in landfills or causing environmental harm.
According to the release, TerraCycle donates $1 to the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for every pound of cigarettes collected. C-Tran plans to designate a local charity to receive donations as part of the program.
