Almost 3kg of cigarette butts collected since April 2021
Through a partnership with the association Tree6clope, Bordeaux Neurocampus has decided to collect cigarette butts in April 2021. Béatrice Tessier, an engineer at the IINS, is at the initiative and in charge of this action.
From April to December 2021, 2.91 kg of cigarette butts were collected, most of them at IINS, to be processed: either, after sorting and decontamination, by transformation into plastic objects, or by energy recovery. In the latter case, they are incinerated in energy recovery units and transformed into a source of electricity or heating.
The harvest in 2021 therefore generated 3.49 Kw/h of energy. It also avoided the pollution of 4,656 m³ of water. This calculation is based on the estimate that approximately 40% of cigarette butts are thrown on the ground, and that a single cigarette butt can pollute up to 500 L of water.
The partnership with Tree6clope is also based on the implementation of “boîtes à clopes”. As we announced recently, one of them has been installed between the Broca centre and the CFGB. Unfortunately, technical constraints do not allow it to be hung where smokers gather, so they have to take a few steps.
For 2022, we can do even better! We encourage all those who are willing to collect cigarette butts in their laboratories (1 person needed), with the centralization of recycling being managed by Béatrice Tessier.
More details
Read an interview with Béatrice Tessier (June 2021)
Last update 13/01/22