Since June 2020, ÉcoMégot has filed a European patent on its new cigarette butts recycling process. Centralized in our premises near Bordeaux, the EcoMégot recycling workshop was born!
What is our cigarette butts recycling process?
In view of the contents of chemical components , in particular nicotine, cigarette butts are assigned the hazard classes HP6 and HP14 (acute toxicity and ecotoxicity). It is safer to treat it as hazardous waste . What we do for transport and traceability.
Our cigarette butts recycling process uses neither water nor solvents . We, like many people, see water as a scarce and precious resource.
As JCVD said, in ten years there won’t be any more!
It is important for us not to waste water and it would be nonsense if we did the opposite. We also avoid non-pollution of the soil by not using any solvent.
The decontamination of cigarette butts is ensured by successive heating (to nearly 200 °) of the material which destroys the most toxic components (nicotine, phenol, pesticide). We have also launched other R&D projects to experiment with other more efficient ways to remove odors in particular (such as supercritical CO2).
What happens to cigarette butts?
For the EcoMégot solution to be effective, public awareness is a fundamental axis. We make citizens and employees aware of the impact of cigarette butts on the environment.
We do not see recycling as an end in itself but rather as a lever that should serve to raise awareness and stimulate behavior change among smokers and non-smokers.
We have ruled on a symbolic object. Cigarette butts are therefore recycled into awareness panels.
These signs are intended for communities, universities, parks, businesses … They highlight the impact of cigarette butts on the environment, warn of the presence of a zero butt area.
We also do tests to find out if our recycled plastic is compatible with 3D printing techniques.
