Recycle Cigarette Butts

I joined the Fashion Association here at university. There is going to be fashion show near the end of the semester and one of the possible themes is "recycled." With this possibility, my brain has been kicked into high gear coming up with other recycled apparel apart from my plastic bag dress.

Today, while Caitlyn, Katie, and I were walking home from church, we passed several junk yards of sorts. One of them had a distinct pile of wire looking something or other. I wonder what I could make with that?

But even before today I started thinking about cigarette butts. The filters are made from some sort of fiber (which after some research I found out is plastic, which explains why it takes so long for them to decay). Cigarette butts are everywhere. I was curious if there was some way to sterilize the fibers and make them into some sort of thread or weave them into a fabric.

Well I certainly am not a scientist. But if I was, I would definitely be doing this.

I certainly am not a scientist, but this person seems to got it.
Mantis


images and information taken from here.

"This project began as an idea for my thesis," she tells CH. "We always wanted to do sustainable design but we didn't want to do something that was already seen, so we started thinking of a waste that was unnoticed and then we thought of cigarette butts."

After seeing the positive results and large interest generated, Alexandra decided to turn the project into a business. After purifying the butts (she collects them from the streets), the material is combined with wool to form a raw, textured wool, which can be knit into a variety of garments.

awesome.