The Municipality of Kincardine Environmental Committee and St. Anthony’s School have joined TerraCycle Cigarette Waste Recycling Program to help eliminate cigarette litter.
The schools Green Team started out recycling school lunch packaging but turned to smoking material after discovering it takes 18 months to 10 years for a cigarette filter to decompose.
TerraCycle collects, separates and purposes the tossed butts into plastic pellets, which can then be made into anything from park benches to shipping pallets.
The Municipality has purchased and installed cigarette butt receptacles in various areas making it easy for residents to properly dispose of used smokes.
Money raised from the program will be used for charities, $44-million has already been raised by TerraCycle.
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world.
Every year, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are tossed on shorelines, in parks and on sidewalks.
