Cigarette butts are actually the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting our global environment (and generally take over 15 to 200 years to decompose).
Shocked by these appalling numbers, a couple in India - Vedobroto Roy and his wife Chetana Prasad - quit their job and came up with the idea of Karma Tips, a cigarette filter tip embedded with seeds. Once the cigarette butts are discarded, the seeds take root and sprout into healthy plants. These filter papers are made out of fruit pulp, vegetable extract, and seeds.
They are 100% chemical free and absorb more tar and nicotine than the average filter paper.
The Roys employ roughly two dozen staff – most of whom are women – from local villages to help make, package, and distribute Karma Tips. Furthermore, all the packaging used for the products are created locally, stimulating small village economies.
Some might say it would be better all-round if people didn’t smoke at all—but they do—and while smoking rates are on the decline in many western countries, it is still legal and generating enormous sums of tax revenue for governments worldwide. So solutions like this one are more than welcome!
Source: Karma Tips/Facebook
