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Wellness & Healthy Living

Greenbutts cigarette filters sprout flowers when planted

By Jeff Salton
April 07, 2010
Greenbutts cigarette filters sprout flowers when planted
Greenbutts LLC has created natural cigarette filters that break down in the environment to sprout grass shoots or flowers
Greenbutts LLC has created natural cigarette filters that break down in the environment to sprout grass shoots or flowers
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Technology demonstrator showing how the filters are designed and what goes into them
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Technology demonstrator showing how the filters are designed and what goes into them
Greenbutts LLC has created natural cigarette filters that break down in the environment to sprout grass shoots or flowers
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Greenbutts LLC has created natural cigarette filters that break down in the environment to sprout grass shoots or flowers
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Let’s start by saying Gizmag doesn’t condone any form of smoking – they’re all bad for you. But we recognize that millions of people do, and it’s not just the extra cost on the community for smoking-related illnesses that irks most non-smokers, it’s also the trillions of cigarette butts that end up littering our sidewalks, roadways, parks, etc., many of which end up in our waterways. Greenbutts wants to tackle the problem with a 100 percent biodegradable cigarette filter... with extra benefits. The manufacturers say when a green butt is placed under a thin layer of soil it sprouts into green grass shoots or even blooming flowers.

Currently, cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate and although technically they are biodegradable, this can take as along as 10-15 years in certain environmental conditions. Greenbutts says it is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter every year and back in 2006, during the International Coastal Cleanup, cigarettes and cigarette butts constituted 24.7 percent of the total collected pieces of garbage, over twice as much as any other category. It’s not just the physical filters that are the problem because as they break down, the filtered cellulose acetate and carbon particles, suspected of causing harm in humans, can leach into our waterways and water supplies.

Greenbutts says its new filter is manufactured from 100 percent all-natural and compostable materials - organic cotton and natural de-gummed hemp. Wheat flour and pure water bind the filter elements as they are spun together. No chemicals or hidden additives are used.

The company encourages users to collect their green butts in a planter instead of an ashtray and watch them grow into green grass shoots or flowers... we're not quite sure exactly what sort of flowers. It also says that if you use its filters with additive-free tobacco you can have a true "all-natural cigarette".

Greenbutts is currently seeking investment and partnership opportunities so no word on availability or pricing yet.

But if you really want an all-natural feeling, we suggest steering clear of cigarettes and tobacco products altogether. Need help quitting?

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Wellness & Healthy LivingEnvironmentalSmokingCigarettesHemp
16 comments
Jeff Salton

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16 comments
relivdallas
Compostable is GOOD! \"Flowers or grass seeds\" is NOT!!
If I have \'sodded\' my front yard with a particular type of grass, then I do NOT want someone\'s cig. butt to give sprout to some OTHER type of grass!! Imagine how this would be COMPOUNDED for a business! If they landscape ACRES of grass around their buildings, they would HATE smokers who just throw their cig. butts out into the grass, shrubs, and flower-beds, and give sprout to \"WEEDS\" in their expensively maintained landscaping! They could even take root in the sewer systems, like around grates--where the debri collects in an area that still gets at least some sunlight. That would turn that DEBRI into a \'natural earthen dam\'! And it would be a HUGE problem for the maint. people!
So, make them dissolve into the earth, but DO NOT make them \"GROW\"!!
Floyd
Registered Just for this
Really relivdallas? point 1, fair call. point 2, MOOT point, if a business has gone to that much effort to landscape their gardens, its safe to say that there will be someone maintaining it. Said maintenance people if doing their job should be on top of these MINOR issues, and the MORE important issues, like emptying my trash bin.
and i agree on your 3rd point, somewhat, honestly, growing is better than a landfill, that and make people more responsible for their rubbish, singapore has laws that mandate this, works well, raises revenue that goes to recycling and other social programs.
Donald Johnson
Why do DOUCHEBAGS that post messages to blogs do it BY CAPITALIZING every OTHER word? Is IT because they BELIEVE that CAPITALIZING every OTHER word, THEIR post has MORE meaning? By, sodded, THE POSTER above PROBABLY means he \'stared OUT THE WINDOW AT THE CONCRETE\' of his BASEMENT studio APARTMENT.
Facebook User
Why not put tobacco seeds in the butts?
Devon
What an awful idea. Invasive species much?
Kris Brown
Great point relivdallas!! That could be a really big problem.
Wendy Woodall
@Floyd so ALL those cig butts that are currently being tossed on manicured lawns, common areas, woods and sidewalks are okay \'cause there\'s no worry \'bout new knids of flora sprouting from them? sheeeeesh
Facebook User
what about all the cancerious crap in the butt that will still be in the ground where the filter was dripped... what a lazy idea... once smoking is banned it wont be an issue...
Matt Dailey
I would be surprised if these plants grew at all. Cigarette butts contain all the filtered toxins from the cigarette, including tar. Cigarette butts are a toxic pollutant to any soil. That\'s why there\'s never anything growing in an ashtray flowerpot.
Alexander Van Osten
CHECK OUT THE WEB SITE. WWW.GREEN-BUTTS.COM
Greenbutts does not condone littering, the idea is to encourage people to recycle their butts own their own property instead of send them to the landfill. Tobacco is a natural product, all of the additives that go into the tobacco and filter make the cigarette toxic! People all over the world are going to continue to smoke, why not encourage a company that is attempting to sove the problem....
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