On the outskirts of the national capital, a group of people patiently separate piles of cigarette butts into paper, brown fibre and tobacco powder. And over a period of time, each separated item is churned into products ranging from soft toys to diaries.

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Focused on sustainability, startup Code Effort is recycling cigarette butts into different products for more than four years now and is even exploring the possibility of making air purifiers with recycled butts.

"We pay Rs 200 to 400 per kilogram of cigarette butts that we procure from various entities. We have more than 200 collection centres in different parts of the country," the startup's founder and Director Naman Gupta told PTI.

The cigarette butts, which end up as litter, are collected by Code Effort through various means, including with the help of more than 2,000 ragpickers from different parts of the country.

The laborious process of recycling cigarette butts is not only helping in boosting sustainability efforts but is also providing additional income for women in the nearby areas in these times of price rise.

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Sitting at his facility in Noida, which is in the national capital region, Gupta said that since inception, Code Effort has recycled more than 1.2 billion cigarette butts and plans are afoot to expand its procurement and recycling capacity from 30 to 300 tonnes per month by 2025.

"We employ and provide a livelihood to 100 plus women and local artisans at our factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh," Gupta said.

Poonam, one of the ladies who are into making products from recycled cigarette butts for Code Effort, said the work provides her with additional income, especially in these times of high inflation.

There is also the flexibility of managing household chores and looking after children as work is done from home, she added.

Coming to the elaborate recycling process, the cigarette butts are first separated into fibre, paper and tobacco powder. The fibre or cigarette filters made of cellulose acetate are soaked in water and are then grinded. Later, they are treated with biodegradable chemicals and kept in a solution for 24 to 36 hours. The resultant white cotton material is dried for around an hour and processed to make them softer. This material is mainly used for making soft toys.

The paper separated from the cigarette butts is treated with chemicals such as an organic binder, essential oils, and fragrance for recycling while the remaining tobacco powder is collected in a rectangular tank and is left to decay for about a month. The resultant compost is supplied as manure in the nearby villages.

In Gupta's words, "It is basically a complete end-to-end recycling and an example of a circular economy".

Code Effort claims to recycle about 1,000 kilograms or equivalent to 3.5 million cigarette butts daily.

Currently, it is selling the products through its website and by way of white labelling for various companies.

"The products include paper sheets, paper bags, soft toys, key chains, diaries, and mosquito repellent made from compost," he said.

On the way ahead, Gupta said the startup plans to make more products, including the possibility of air purifiers, by recycling cigarette butts.

Anybody can volunteer and send/donate their cigarette butts to Code Effort for recycling and every volunteer gets gifts and incentives for their support. "Secondly, we engage with 2,000 plus rag-pickers across India to collect cigarette butts. It helps us increase our collection rate and foster livelihood opportunities for these rag-pickers," Gupta said.

Also, the startup has created a model wherein associates are paid for their supplies.

Currently, there are associates across more than 250 districts, according to Code Effort.

The startup is also working in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, Gupta said, adding "we are a flexible and cooperative company when it comes to overseas expansion".

According to him, cigarette butts as raw materials have immense properties and applications.

Over the next three years, "we believe that B2B (Business-To-Business) and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)/ EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility)/ CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives will form 75 per cent of our revenues. The D2C (Direct-To-Consumer) brand will appeal to the section of environment-loving generation Y/Z," he added.
Further, he said, "dispose of the cigarette butts wisely even if they are trying to reduce their smoking so that we can efficiently recycle them and put the cigarette butts to a better use".

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