Vancouver launches world’s first cigarette-butt recycling program

VANCOUVER – The City of Vancouver is butting in when it comes to smokers butting out by helping to launch the world’s first cigarette butt recycling program.

The Cigarette Waste Brigade pilot project began Tuesday with the installation of 110 recycling receptacles in four downtown areas where discarded butts are a messy problem.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says the butts are a source of litter in a city that’s aiming to become the greenest on the globe by 2020.

While Vancouver is touted as having the lowest smoking rate among Canadian cities, it’s not alone when it comes to smokers tossing cigarette butts onto streets.

Nina Purewal, general manager of TerraCycle Canada which is partnering with the city on the project, says cigarette waste is the most littered item across the globe.

TerraCycle will supply the receptacles, cover costs for installing and emptying them and collect the butts while providing employment through two inner-city charities.