The city of Belleville is giving cigarettes a second life through their new cigarette butt recycling program.
Belleville is the first city in eastern Ontario to partner with TerraCycle Canada’s cigarette recycling program. TerraCycle is an international recycling company that finds new solutions for items that aren’t usually accepted by municipal recycling facilities, like cigarette butts.
“Cigarette butts are one of the most littered items in the world and they pose a real threat to our environment,” says Joseph Reid, Belleville’s general manager of transportation and operations services. “The plastic filters soak up chemicals, get tossed and release those chemicals – often into our waterways.”
According to Taylor Dall, Belleville’s green initiative coordinator, the idea was brought forward by a member of the community.
That idea was put into practice two weeks ago when the city installed its first three receptacles.
“We think we’ll have a big impact with it,” said Dall.
Alex Paz, a downtown business owner, says he’s noticed a huge difference since the receptacles were installed.
“This area was just littered with cigarette butts. I used to pick up close to 80 butts in the morning, now I can maybe find five or six.”
The receptacles accept extinguished cigarettes, filters and plastic or foil packaging from the packs.
As for how the program works, Dall says that all Belleville has to do is collect the cigarette garbage, and TerraCycle takes care of the rest.
“TerraCycle actually provides free shipping labels. We gather up all our waste, and they have their own way of making this material a useful product.”
One product created by the innovative recycling company from cigarettes material is plastic lumber — commonly used in boat docks and even benches.
Dall says there’s another benefit to the city’s involvement in the program.
“For every pound of waste that we do recycle, they give us a dollar towards a charity of our choosing.”
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“We would love to partner with every city that has litter issues,” says Strategic Partnership Manager with Terrycycle, Brian Hanck.
“People should look at the litter problems surrounding cigarette butts.”
The city will be installing two more receptacles in the near future, and if the program goes well, they hope to install more.
“I really do hope that other municipalities jump on board, and that we get a lot of collection done,” said Dall.
— With files from Alexandra Mazur