CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

Cigarette butts (CBs) are among the most common types of litter in the world. Several trillion

cigarettes are produced annually worldwide, resulting in many tonnes of toxic waste in recent

years. In 2004, over 5.5 trillion cigarettes were produced worldwide (USDA, 2004), equivalent

to an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of CB waste per year. These figures are expected to increase

by more than 50% by 2025, primarily due to an increase in world population (Mackay et al,

2000). In Australia alone, an estimated 25 to 30 billion filter cigarettes(Micevska et al, 2006) are

smoked each year; of these, an estimated 7 billion end up as litter (Butt Littering Trust, 2007).

Furthermore, during the Clean Up Day in Australia (Clean Up Australia Rubbish Report, 2008),

CBs were identified as the most common item of litter of all the items collected for the thirteenth

year in a row since it started in 1990. Most CB filters are made of cellulose acetate. CBs

accumulate in the environment due to the poor biodegradability of the cellulose acetate filters

which have long-term effects on the urban environment, especially in waterways and run-off

(Novotny and Zhao, 1999; Novotny et al, 2009). There are up to 4,000 chemical components in

cigarette smoke and toxic chemicals trapped in the CB filters can leach, causing serious damage

to the environment (Hoffmann and Hoffmann, 1997; Register, 2000; Li et al, 2002). Generally,

the most common disposal methods for CB waste are landfill and incineration. However,

landfilling and incineration of CB waste are neither universally sustainable nor economically

feasible disposal methods. Even when correctly binned and sent to landfill far from natural

waterways, CBs remain an environmental hazard (Ruan et al, 2005; Yuan et al, 2006). Also,
landfilling of waste with high organic content and toxic substances is becoming increasingly

costly and difficult. Incineration of CBs is also an unsustainable solution as emissions from the

burning waste contain various hazardous substances (Knox, 2005; Narayana, 2009). Due to

awareness of the increasing amount of CB litter and the disadvantages of landfill and

incineration methods, great efforts need to be made to find an alternative environmentally

friendly method to deal with CB waste. The order of priority in waste management and treatment

is (1) prevention, (2) reduction, (3) reuse, (4) recycling and recovery, (5) thermal treatment and

(6) landfill (Basegio et al, 2002; Staniskis, 2005). The concept of recycling is highly encouraged

by governments and other related authorities through laws and regulations on waste.

Nevertheless, recycling CBs is difficult because there are no easy mechanisms or procedures to

assure an efficient and economical separation of the butts and appropriate treatment of the

entrapped chemicals. An alternative could be to incorporate CBs in a building material such as

fired clay bricks. Brick is one of the most common masonry units preferred due to its simple

processing technique, its properties and the flexibility of its composition. Most importantly, the

firing process of the clay brick allows (a) volatilisation of dangerous components, (b) change of

the chemical characteristics of the materials, and (c) the incorporation of potentially toxic

components through fixation in the vitreous phase of the recycled waste utilised (Vieira et al,

2006). It is expected that this sustainable method could immobilise the toxic chemicals trapped

inside the CBs from leaching or emission into the environment and causing very serious

environmental pollution. Due to the stringent regulations of disposal methods and the

environmental impact of CB waste, it seems obvious that recycling CBs into fired clay brick can

be considered an important step in the right direction. Furthermore, this practical and potentially

important programme of investigation could also provide a new construction product with
improved properties. In addition, the more CB waste is utilised in brick manufacturing, the more

the environment, as well as the economy, will benefit, as it will reduce the uncontrolled disposal

of environmentally harmful waste.Furthermore, based on the extensive literature review,

research carried out over the last thirty years reveals that many attempts have been successfully

made to incorporate different type of waste into the production of bricks including sludge

(Basegio et al, 2002), polystyrene (Veiseh and Yousefi, 2003), kraft pulp residue (Demir et al,

2005), fly ash (Kayali, 2005; Lin, 2006), processed waste tea (Demir, 2006), sawdust, tobacco

residues and grass (Demir, 2008), and paper (Sutcu and Akkurt, 2009). Recycling of such wastes

by incorporating them into building materials is a practical solution to a pollution problem. In

addition, the manufactured bricks with different types of waste have shown positive effects on

the properties of light-weight bricks such as improved porosity, thermal conductivity, water

absorption properties, strength and reduction of energy used during firing. Moreover, utilisation

of solid wastes has been encouraged as it is one of the most cost effective alternative materials

that could be used in clay brick manufacturing. These reasons are the driving force contributing

to the main objective of this study which was to investigate the possibility of recycling CBs in

fired clay bricks.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The main objective of this technical research is to use cigarette butts as an alternative

brick. Specifically, it seek to answer the following question:

1. What are the materials and procedure needed to make the bricks out of cigarette butts?
2. What is the level of effectiveness of the bricks of made cigarette butts?

2.1 Design

2.2 Applicability

2.3 Efficiency