Recycling butts and raising awareness in effort to clean up Calgary streets

Calgary is tackling the scourge of cigarette butts with a new awareness campaign, as some areas turn to recycling the persistent litter in order to reduce the impact. 

"I think some people think, 'Oh, if I just throw it on the ground it will disintegrate into the soil' and it just doesn't," said Cheryl Herperger with Calgary Community Standards at the city, discussing the #buttfreeyyc campaign on the Homestretch.

"So we end up with fish and birds and wildlife mistaking them for food. We'll see pigeons picking up the cigarette butts to make a nest for the babies, and the fish are getting cigarette butts stuck in them down in the river and even our own pets in the off-leash areas, or any park, they think it's a little treat."

Herperger said there's metal in the filters of cigarette butts that make them "exponentially more problematic," getting into the water supply and costing the city through higher filtering costs. 

International Avenue recycling

International Avenue in the city's southeast is one community that is tackling the problem by installing cigarette recycling bins in addition to traditional disposal containers.

Alison Karim-McSweeney, the executive director of the International Avenue Business Revitalization Zone, said you can put any part of the cigarette and its packaging into one of the bins. 

"What's really cool about is is then we collect this, we can then ship it to them and when the company receives it, they then make all sorts of things out of it — they make plastic pellets out of some of the butts, they have plastic lumber that they're using in shipping pallets," she said. 

"Then any of the organic waste actually goes into compost. I think it's a really important program."

Revenue for community

The company pays approximately $1 per pound for the collected butts and the BRZ collects, on average, 2,700 butts each month. 

"It's actually really good, it goes back to the community," said Karim-McSweeney.

There are currently six butt recycling containers in the area, but the goal is to have upwards of 50 by the time the avenue is rebuilt at the end of next year. 

"We'll continue this program just because it's so very interesting and I think it's a great way to make sure that this waste doesn't go into our storm water and affect the plants and the trees and all those sorts of things," said Karim-McSweeney.

Those caught littering cigarette butts can face fines between $500 and $1,000.

With files from The Homestretch

• MORE CALGARY NEWS | 'Substantial increase' in grizzly-human encounters in southwestern Alberta, says report
• MORE CALGARY NEWS | Man arrested for 'sextortion' of Lethbridge teen