There has got to be a better way to clean up those cigarette butts that have littered and sullied the streets all over. This is the most common piece of garbage you find on the streets.
Some people think that cigarette butts don’t cause much damage to the environment. Well, they’re gravely mistaken. Streets and alleyways have become dirty become of these non-biodegradable items.
Someone may have finally found a solution to this dirty problem. An eco-warrior was able to make an impressive amount of money simply by creating toys, keyrings, mosquito repellents, and organic compost from this piece of garbage. Yes, he had made something out of old cigarette butts.
Introducing a 26-year-old man named Naman Gupta. He hails from India and was inspired to make a difference when he laid eyes on a huge pile of cigarettes left after a party. He then began to wonder how many were thrown in the streets all over the world every single day.
Instead of just worrying about it, he decided to take action. Now, he runs a company which installs bins in cities. These bins are solely made to collect butts. Then, these are collected and recycled into anything. Some of the things made are cushions and key rings.
To date, Gupta claims that his company has made over one million dollars since 2016. That’s an impressive amount of money to be made from something he got for free. That’s because he has recycled over 300,000,000 cigarette butts in total. The amount is equivalent to 100,000 kg. in weight alone.
Gupta, who hails from Uttar Pradesh in India, talked about his story and said, “There was a misconception that it must be made out of cotton, so not everybody notices the problem that it is actually plastic. There were no laws or companies who were recycling or managing this kind of waste, it was a completely new concept in India.”
He further stated, “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.”
Gupta was in his third year at Delhi University. He was studying commerce when he decided he wanted to start the first cigarette recycling company in India. The said company he named CODE Effort. What’s even more impressive was that he was just 21 years of age then. That’s because he found cigarettes are the most littered trash in the whole world. What’s even worse is the fact that the plastic in the filter takes as long as 12 years to completely disintegrate. That’s too much for the world to handle.
Moreover, these cigarette butts form microplastics in the process. If this lands in fertile soil, it can limit or altogether inhibit plant growth. When thrown out into the ocean, these become highly toxic to the aquatic life that lives there. Gupta is the company founder who now receives as much as 6,000 kgs. of cigarettes butts per month. What he does is have them deposited into waste receptacles he called VBins. These bins have been distributed outside street vendors and paan shops. For the vendors who supply him with this, they get to receive a fee per kilo of butts they collect. Not only is he protecting the environment, he’s also giving income to those who need it.
The cigarette butts go through a process. These all begin in his factory where the workers split the butts into three parts: filter, paper, and leftover tobacco. The filter is made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. This is then shredded and chemically treated for 24 hours. Once done, these are made into stuffing for cushions, soft toys, and squishy keyrings. The paper and tobacco, on the other hand, are converted into compost. These are sold to farmers and growers, or domestic mosquito repellents.
Of course, there is waste water produced during the process, but this is also re-used, and fabrics used to make the plushies he sells are sourced from the local suppliers.
So, CODE Effort stands for Conserving Our Depleting Environment. They aspire to do more and are currently looking into using cigarette filters. These filters, Gupta hopes, will be used to create air purifiers to address air pollution problems.
Getting to where he is wasn’t east. That’s because smoking in India is considered to be a taboo. Hence, he doesn’t always get the support he needs, even if he approaches the people with such an environmentally-friendly initiative. Gupta shared, “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.”
The entrepreneur’s end goal is simply to encourage people to curb their consumption of cigarettes as well as dispose of them properly. It’s high time that every consumer become wise, or else the future generations will pay the dear price for it. He explained, “Our business model is on a mission to eradicate cigarette waste in our society in an environmentally-friendly manner.”
Gupta further stated, “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.”
We can only hope that the world is populated by innovative men like Gupta. He wanted to make a big difference in the world, and right now, his simple company has already made big strides when it comes to saving the environment. Not too many people think about the trash they dispose of and consider the repercussions if they get rid of these thing insensitively. He thought long and hard about him, and look at his company now, he’s truly touching lives and making a huge difference.
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