In France cigarette butts are turned into urban furniture

Limiting waste and saving on plastics materials

Cigarette butts are notorious for their negative effect on the environment. Not only do they often end up on the streets spoiling the landscape, but they are also one of the strongest water pollutants.

French cities have been making coordinated efforts to tackle the problem. Toulouse and Paris tested zones free from cigarette butts, while Nice distributed thousands of pocket ashtrays on its beaches. Now, it is for Rueil-Malmaison, a dozen kilometres away from the French capital, to join their company.

As the local authorities announced on Tuesday, they will be entering into a special partnership aimed at contributing to the ecological transition of the city. The objective: transform waste into a useful part of urban furniture.

Saving on new plastic

MéGO and CKFD, specialized in the reconditioning of cigarette butts, together with the cleaning service of Rueil-Malmaison will team up in the collection, sorting and repackaging of cigarette ends. Once collected, the waste will be crushed, cleaned, depolluted, dried and pressed at very high temperature.

See how it works in the video below (in French):

By using this method, the material will be turned into plastic plates. These plates will then be used to make standing seated benches, pencil pots, tables, palettes or other elements. In a few steps, the butt which takes approximately 2 to 5 years to decompose, becomes an object of public utility, concludes the municipality.

The local authorities, therefore, encourage local businesses to contact the road maintenance department to obtain an urban ashtray which will be installed in front of their premises. It will be collected twice a week by the cleaning service provider.

The recovered and sorted butts will then be taken by the service provider CKFD / MéGO. The latter provides a sorting and recycling service for used cigarette filters, a unique solution in France.