How to Recycle Cigarette Filters

Recycle cigarette filters by turning them into art. Until a recycling program is established that allows the difficult-to-degrade cigarette filters to break down and be recycled into other plastic items, recycle them by up-cycling. Pick up litter and reuse it in its raw state, with no additional expenditure of energy. "Not only does work like this change our thinking about what is garbage and what is not, it brings awareness to the problems of litter, waste and sustainable design ideas," states Paula Mitchell Bentley, an environmental specialist. Trillions of cigarette butts are littered every year. Clean up the problem one butt at a time.

• 1

  Sketch a drawing on your background board.

• 2

  Apply school glue to the back or the end of a cigarette filter or the cigarette's butt.

• 3

  Glue cigarettes onto the board within the boundaries of the drawing.

• 4

  Fill in the background with more cigarette butts, filters alone, or pieces of unwrapped paper from the cigarette.

• 5
  Protect your art with acrylic spray. spray with a cap image by Yasen Pramatarov from Fotolia.com

  Spray your recycled art with clear acrylic spray for protection and to contain the odor from cigarettes.

• 6

  Display your art in an area where fresh air circulates.