Cigarette butts: SP woman honored for taking part in ‘upcycling’ program

April 22, 2016
Santa Paula News

It’s hard enough to believe that a program has collected more  than 2.5-billion cigarette butts but it also has brought more than $6 million to schools and charities.

The City Council learned about the program at the April 18 meeting where Dee Cota was honored for picking up cigarette butts for the “upcycling” program.

It is a volunteer effort on Cota’s part that Mayor Martin Hernandez said not only brings funds to worthy causes and helps the environment but also helps beautify the community.

Said Hernandez, “I saw Dee Cota one day in the outfit she is wearing with sunglasses and a big hat pulling things out of the gutter in front of Vons,” using barbecue tongs.

After he asked Cota what she was doing Hernandez said she told him of the recycling program.

Cota told the council she started collecting cigarette butts, “Three years ago,” when she learned of the non-profit TerraCycle program, which separates the plastic found in cigarette filters for new products.

The rest of the cigarette , TerraCycle — which began the program in 2012 — “upcycles” for composting. 

Cota showed the council an oversized plastic bag filled with cigarette butts and noted she has picked up 422,794 tossed butts one at a time, noting the total does not include the bag she displayed. 

Cota showed the council other bags containing pens, pencils, markers, disposal batteries and lighters as well as health bar and candy wrappers, all refuse she keeps separately for proper disposal.

Hernandez said TerraCycle not only takes the cigarette butts but also provides volunteers with postage paid boxes for shipment.

Cota is an example for other Santa Paulans many that have already begun efforts to beautify the city.

They are taking time to help “one person” and one piece of trash “at a time…and we want to honor,” Cota for her fierce devotion to bettering the environment.

TerraCycle, located in New Jersey, “upcycles” the plastic found in cigarette filters into pellets which is then used in the manufacturing of flower pots, plastic lumber, plastic pavers, bike racks, park benches, and garbage and recycling cans among other end products.





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