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?
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
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.
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....