A man from Punjab has found a quirky way to use discarded cigarette butts, a huge environmental hazard.
Entrepreneur Twinkle Kumar, based in Mohali, has set up a unit to recycle cigarette butts into toys, cushions and mosquito repellants and other items.
Kumar lost his job last year amid the coronavirus lockdown. He wanted to start something new and creative and landed upon upcycling cigarette butts in one of the Youtube videos.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Kumar said, ¡®I got to know about the concept of cigarette recycling, and it intrigued me. I approached the company that was already doing this and learned the process. After that, I started my business in Mohali."
He said that the response has been good so far.
¡°We¡¯ve also employed local women, who¡¯re engaged in collection, processing and conversion of butts."
Kumar and his team have installed bins at smoking zones and collect cigarette butts from there.
¡°We are collecting the butts by installing collecting bins at all smoking zones in public places across the city. We then process and clean the butts chemically and remove the toxic components from them, after that they are used for toys, cushions, and mosquito repellants."