Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the U.S.  And worldwide, it’s estimated that 5.6 trillion cigarette butts are disposed of inappropriately daily. But what if all these nasty, stinky used cigarette butts could be used for good? South Korean researchers are trying to do just that.

Scientists are trying to turn dirty filters into a reusable material that more effectively stores energy. They’re using cigarette butts from Marlboro Light Gold, The One Orange, and Bohem Cigar Cigarettes and breaking them down using a process called pyrolysis. Once broken down, the butts are able to store energy more efficiently than carbon.

Co-author of the study Professor Jongheop Yi, from Seoul National University, said: “Our study has shown that used cigarette filters can be transformed into a high-performing carbon-based material using a simple one-step process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the energy demands of society.

“Numerous countries are developing strict regulations to avoid the trillions of toxic and non-biodegradable used cigarette filters that are disposed of into the environment each year; our method is just one way of achieving this.”

Researchers in the study showed the cellulite acetate fibers from cigarette filters can be transformed relatively easily into carbon-based materials. The end result was a material that had tiny pores which actually performed better than carbon.

According to the Institute of Physics:

Once fabricated, the carbon-based material was attached to an electrode and tested in a three-electrode system to see how well the material could adsorb electrolyte ions (charge) and then release them (discharge).

The material stored a higher amount of electrical energy than commercially available carbon and also had a higher amount of storage compared to graphene and carbon nanotubes, as reported in previous studies.

I’d rather the world give up cigs all together, but until then, this is a pretty cool solution instead of leaving butts all over the streets.

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Image: Melanie Tata

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America’s got a cigarette butt problem. A big one.

We’re talking about cigarette butts — the shriveled little bits of flicked cigs that are creating a not-so-little problem for our environment. “World No Tobacco” day, which was on May 31, prompted us to examine smoking’s environmental impact.

What’s that? You just saw a cigarette butt sail from a car window? Lodged in a sidewalk crack? Chances are you’re not alone; cigarette butts are far and away the most littered item in the world, with roughly 4.5 trillion being tossed each year. The lobbying group American for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) reported that 1.69 billion pounds of butts ended up as toxic waste last year. That’s like the weight of 177,895 endangered African elephants, or 555,555 Toyota Prius automobiles, or. . . well, you get the idea. That’s a lot of junk in our collective trunk.

But cigarette butts aren’t just a punch line for bad puns — they present a serious hazard to our natural world.

The butt itself is comprised of two parts: A plastic filter and the remnants of the used tobacco. While the leftover tobacco is by definition biodegradable, the filters are made from a plastic called cellulose acetate, a compound that eventually breaks down but never disappears. Ever. Combine that with the roughly 4,000 chemicals found in cigarettes, and you’ve got the recipe for a pretty awful eco-aftertaste.

This doesn’t stop our wildlife from sampling the local cuisine. Birds and dogs often pick at the bite-sized waste, and marine animals like fish can ingest cigarette butts that wash into nearby lakes, rivers, and oceans. If the poisons don’t claim their lives first, a predator or a commercial fishery might, setting into motion a complexly destructive cycle in our food chain.

Toxins: They’re what’s for dinner.

This waste tears at the people-planet relationship in other ways, too; fires caused by cigarettes take the lives of more than 900 people in the U.S. every year. These fires amount to nearly $6 billion in annual human and property costs. Needless to say, it’s costly to have large (numbers of) butts.

So what’s a concerned derrière dissenter to do? Fortunately, there are many nonprofit organizations designed to raise public awareness of cigarette butt waste. You can find a local Sierra Club volunteer chapter that’s committed to keeping our streets, beaches, and oceans clean.

The easiest way to make a difference? Don’t litter in the first place — find a designated waste bin for your cigarette. Even better, don a pair of work gloves and organize a trash pick-up day with your friends. Discarded cigarettes might be small, but only our individual efforts will keep the issue from getting any bigger.

And, trust us: That’s a big but. – Davis Jones

This article appears courtesy of Sierra Magazine

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