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Slovakia is turning old cigarette butts into asphalt roads

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Around Bratislava, containers specially designed for cigarette butts have been set up by the local council. Once full, their contents are being upcycled into asphalt roads, preventing tons of chemicals and plastic waste from entering the natural environment.

Every day, a whopping 18 billion cigarette butts are thrown away.

Over a single year, that amounts to more than six trillion cigarettes – but only one-third of these will be properly disposed of. The vast majority of cigarette butts are thoughtlessly discarded on roads, parks, waterways, and other public spaces.

Hoping to put an end to this pesky source of litter, the local municipal waste management company operating in Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital city, collaborated with two companies called Ecobutt and SPAK-EKO.

Together, they installed a series of specialised containers around pop-up Christmas markets to incentivise visitors to properly discard their cigarette butts. Later, this waste would be processed and turned into asphalt used to pave local roads.

Interestingly, cigarette butt filters can be recycled into fibres that can be used as an admixture for asphalt. The project in Bratislava not only promotes the development of more sustainable roads but also provides a solution to the difficult problem of managing cigarette waste and disposal.

Ecobutt had already constructed a short road partly using discarded butts in a nearby city with much success, inspiring local councils in Bratislava to initiate a similar project in the capital.

Recycling of cigarette butts


Why are cigarette butts a problem?

Filters from smoked cigarettes are toxic as they contain a significant amount of tar and other chemicals that harm their surrounding environment as they break down.

Of particular environmental concern are the thousands of chemicals and heavy metals contained in the tar as these can leach into soil and water sources, posing a threat to wild animals and plants.

Cellulose acetate, a type of plastic, is also present in cigarette butts. While disposable vapes and other e-cigarettes are likely worse offenders, traditional cigarettes also contribute to worsening plastic pollution.

As you can probably imagine, this chemical cocktail does little good for nature when it is improperly disposed of.

How to Stop Cigarette Butt Litter | Hakai Magazine

One study found that when cigarette butts are discarded in parks and gardens, the surrounding plants’ ability to germinate and grow to normal sizes is reduced by more than 20 percent.

Beneath the ground, the strength and size of plant roots are reduced by more than 50 percent.

When cigarettes end up in waterways, their effect on marine life is also immense. Experiments conducted in labs revealed that toxins leached from a single cigarette butt are capable of killing nearly 50 percent of fish exposed to them.

These studies are important, as they expose how something as small and common as a littered cigarette butt can have incredibly negative consequences for all living things on our planet.

Littering prevention - Progress 2020 | PMI - Philip Morris International


How is the Bratislava project going?

During the pilot program, Ecobutt and SPAK-EKO recycled 300 kilograms of used cigarette butts in Slovakia’s capital every day.

After reaching the milestone of preventing a massive 10 million cigarette ends from becoming toxic litter, the venture was nominated for the SozialMarie Prize for Social Innovation in 2023.

This has led Bratislava’s local council to greenlight plans to install cigarette waste containers all across the city. Any waste collected from these containers will be then processed by Ecobutt and turned into local roads.

Though similar efforts to upcycle cigarette butts have popped up in other parts of the world, the initiative in Bratislava has occurred on a much wider scale thanks to local authorities and independent companies working together to achieve the goal.

Let’s hope we see similar initiatives popping up around the world.

Senior Writer & Media Coordinator London, UK

I’m Jessica (She/Her). Originally from Bermuda, I moved to London to get a Master’s degree in Media & Communications and now write for Thred to spread the word about positive social change, specifically ocean health and marine conservation. You can also find me dipping my toes into other subjects like pop culture, health, wellness, style, and beauty.  Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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