IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol.

8, Issue 3, 2020 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613

Cigarette Butt Bricks

Ms. Sonam Shinde
Student
Department of Civil Engineering
Adarsh Institute of Technology, (Polytechnic), Sangli, India
Abstract— Several trillion cigarettes are produced
worldwide annually, resulting in tonnes of cigarette butt II. WHAT ARE CIGARETTE BUTTS
waste. Billions of cigarette butts (CBs) were discarded by Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose
smokers directly into the environment. It is known that CBs acetate. When tossed into the environment, they dump not
are one of the environmental pollution. Cigarette butts only that plastic, but also the nicotine, heavy metals, and
accumulate in the environment due to the poor many other chemicals they’ve absorbed into the surrounding
biodegradability of the cellulose acetate filters that could environment.
cause contamination on the street, sidewalks, waterways,
beaches and public areas. Due to its small size but large in
volume, CBs cannot be collected easily and most of it will
be disposed directly to the landfill. Moreover, there is no
easy mechanism to ensure the separation of the chemicals
trap inside the CBs which is toxic to the environment
Results from a study on recycling cigarette butts into fired
clay bricks are presented. In this study, different percentages
of CBs (0%, 2.5% and 5.0%) were incorporated into fired
clay brick. The physico-mechanical properties of
manufactured bricks including compressive strength,
flexural strength, density, water absorption and thermal
conductivity are discussed. The compressive strength of
bricks decreased according to the percentage of cigarette Fig. 1: Cigarette Butts
butts included in the mix. The results also show that the A recent study found that cigarette butts inhibit
mixing time has a considerable effect on the properties of plant growth. They also routinely get into waterways, and
the fired clay bricks tested. It was concluded that cigarette eventually oceans.
butts can be regarded as a potential addition to the raw Trillions of cigarette filters—also known as butts or
materials used in the manufacture of lightweight fired bricks ends—are left over, only an estimated third of which make it
and, furthermore, that recycling cigarette butts in bricks is a into the trash. The rest are casually flung into the street or
very practical and potentially significant contribution in out a window.
terms of a sustainable solution to one of the serious 1 Arsenic Used in rat poison
environmental pollution problems in the world. Main ingredient in paint thinner
2 Acetone
Keyword: Cigarette, Bricks, and nail polish remover
Used in disinfectants and plastics
3 Phenol
I. INTRODUCTION Benzene
4 Hexamine In barbecue lighter fluid
Over a million tones of cigarette butts (CBs) are produced
5 Formaldehyde Used to embalm dead bodies
worldwide annually. CBs accumulated in the environment
6 Benzene Found in rubber cement
mainly due to the poor biodegradability of the cellulose
acetate filters. CB filters release a range of toxic chemicals Hydrogen
7 Used as a poison in gas chambers
as they deteriorate. Cyanide
CBs are carried by storm water into water courses Found in batteries and artist's oil
8 Cadmium
and ultimately the ocean where the chemicals they contain paints
pose a risk to the organisms of both freshwater and marine 9 Hydrazine Used in jet and rocket fuels
environments. 10 Lead A highly poisonous metal
Recycling CBs is problematic because there are no 11 Polonium-210 A highly radioactive element
easy mechanisms or procedures to assure efficient and 12 DDT/ Dieldrin Insecticides
economical separation and recycling of the entrapped 13 Naphthalene Used in explosives and moth ball
chemicals. An alternative could be to incorporate CBs in a 14 Stearic acid Found in candle wax
sustainable composite building material such as fired bricks. 15 Ammonia A typical household cleaning fluid
Cigarette butt bricks are produced by blending cigarette 16 Butane Cigarette lighter fluid
butts with mixture of materials used for brick production. 17 Nitrobenzene A gasoline additive
This is an innovative and practical solution for the pollution Table 1: Chemical in CB
problems caused by cigarette butt disposal. What does all that cigarette waste mean for the
environment? Here are the basics about the environmental
impact of cigarette butts.

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 Cigarette Butt Bricks
(IJSRD/Vol. 8/Issue 3/2020/092)

A. How much litter is from cigarettes? A. Clay:

Cigarettes make up more than one-third—nearly 38 The main raw material for bricks is clay other than clayey
percent—of all collected litter. Disposing of cigarettes on soils or soft slate or shale, which is usually obtained from
the ground or out of a car is so common that 75 percent of open pits with the attendant disruption of drainage,
smokers report doing it. vegetation and wildlife habitat. Clays for brick making vary
All these cigarette butts cost big bucks to clean up. broadly in composition and depend on the locality from
Cities spend between $3 million and $16 million on which the soil originates. Different proportions of clays are
cigarette clean-up. composed mainly of silica (grains of sand), alumina, lime,
B. Is cigarette waste toxic? iron, manganese, sulphur and phosphates.
Yes! Littered cigarette butts leach toxic chemicals—such as B. Cigarette Butts:
arsenic (used to kill rats) and lead, to name a few—into the
The common name for the remains of a cigarette after
environment and can contaminate water. The toxic exposure
smoking is a cigarette butt. The butt is typically about 30%
can poison fish, as well as animals that eat cigarette butts.
of the cigarette's original length. It consists of a tissue tube
C. What is in a typical cigarette filter? which holds a filter and some remains of tobacco mixed
It may look like cotton, but 98 percent of cigarette filters are with ash. Cigarette butts are the most common form of man-
made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate) that are tightly made litter in the world, as approximately 5.6 trillion
packed together, which leads to an estimated 1.69 billion cigarettes are smoked every year worldwide. The cellulose
pounds of cigarette butts winding up as toxic trash each acetate fibres used as the predominant filter material in the
year. cigarettes do not readily biodegrade. A normal life span of a
discarded filter is thought to be up to 15 years.
D. Are cigarettes biodegradable?
No—the plastic fibers in cigarettes are non-biodegradable, C. Water:
meaning they won't organically break down from living Water is an important ingredient of brick as it actually used
organisms. for manufacturing of brick. Since it helps to bind all the raw
E. How long does it take for cigarettes to decompose? materials for giving proper mix.
Although cigarettes don’t break down naturally, they can
gradually decompose depending on environmental V. BRICK MAKING PROCESS
conditions like the rain and sun. Estimates on the time it
takes vary, but a recent study found that a cigarette butt was
only about 38 percent decomposed after two years.

III. ADVANTAGE OF CIGARETTE BUTT BRICK

1) It gets that waste out of the environment.
2) Reduces pollution upto certain extent.
3) It makes bricks cheaper.
4) Less energy-intensive bricks can be produced.
5) The energy needed to fire bricks can be cut by up to
58%.
6) Lighter and better insulator bricks are produced;
meaning they could help cut household cooling and
heating demands.
7) When the cigarette butts are fired in the bricks, the Fig. 2: Test Cigarette Butt Bricks with different replacement
heavy metals and other pollutants are trapped and of Cigarette butts
immobilized in the solid block so they cannot leach. Mixture Identification % of CBs by wt. of Bricks
8) Bricks shrinkage, porosity, and thermal properties are CB(0.0) 0
improved. CB(2.5) 2.5
9) Water absorption and compressive strength of bricks is CB(5.0) 5.0
not much affected if % of CBs is up to certain limit. CB(10.0) 10.0
10) It controls the effect of CBs on Marine life. Table 2: Mixes used
11) It solves the problem of disposal of CBs.
12) Cigarette butts can be placed in bricks without any fear
of leaching or contamination.
13) Cigarette butt bricks are an alternative to conventional
bricks.

IV. MATERIAL REQUIRED

− Clay.
− Cigarette butts.
− Water.

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 Cigarette Butt Bricks
(IJSRD/Vol. 8/Issue 3/2020/092)

loaded. Average of five specimens is taken as the crushing

strength.
B. Water Absorption Test:
Five brick are taken and it is weighted dry. It is then
immersed in water for 24 hours. It is weighed again and the
difference in weight indicates the amount of water absorbed
by the brick. It is should not be exceed 20 percent of weight
of dry brick.
C. Flexural Strength Test:
Flexural strength should be determined for lateral loadings.
Fig. 3: Prepared Cigarette But for Brick Production A brick prism of five bricks is kept on flexural strength
1) Firstly clay is prepared and the amounts of CBs are machine. Two point load or four point load is applied to the
added to it by the total weight of Bricks in %. brick masonry prism.
2) Then this clay is placed into a brick mould according to Compressive Flexural Water
the desired shape and is well compacted. Mixture
Strength Strength Absorption
3) Then it is removed from the mould and is allowed to Identification
(Mpa) (Mpa) (%)
dry for 2-3 days before being fired.( if the brick is bake CB(0.0) 25.65 2.79 5
in the moist condition, the bricks may experience a lot CB(2.5) 12.57 2.48 9
of problems like bent, split and even broken that make CB(5.0) 5.22 2.40 15
it not suitable to be used as a wall of building)
CB(10.0) 3.00 1.24 18
4) After that the bricks are burned in a kiln until it gets
Table 4: Test Results
reddish brown at a temperature 900 to 1200 degree
Celsius.
VII. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
5) The brick is then allowed to cool down for two to three
days. The following properties are valid for bricks with 10%
cigarette butt content:
1) Density of cigarette butt Bricks is less than that of
conventional bricks without cigarette butts.
2) Compressive strength of cigarette butt bricks is less
than the conventional bricks by more than 85%.
3) Water absorption increases almost linearly with the
increase of cigarette butt content.
4) Cigarette butt bricks have low porosity and shrinkage.
5) Bricks are light and have good insulation capability.
6) The percentage of cigarette butt addition is specified
based on the type of project or works in which cigarette
butt bricks are used. This is because different amount of
cigarette butt in bricks modify brick properties.
7) Tests have been conducted on different replacement
Fig. 4: Bricks produced from materials mixed with cigarette percentages like 1.5, 2.5, 7.5, and 10 percent. Each
butts replacement quantity results in different physical
Total Mass properties. As the quantity of cigarette butts is
Dried Clay Amount
Percentage of Raw increased, its detrimental effects on the bricks would be
Cigarette Soil of Water
of CBs (%) Materials more obvious.
Butts (kg) (kg) (ml)
(kg)
0.00 0.0000 3.500 3.500 900 VIII. CONCLUSION
2.50 0.0873 3.300 3.3873 1080
The results found in this investigation are very promising. It
5.00 0.1538 3.000 3.1538 1000 is concluded that cigarette butts can be regarded as a
Table 3: Ratio of CB, Clay Soil and Water potential addition to the raw materials of new types of light-
weight fired bricks, for non-load-bearing as well as load-
VI. TEST CARRIED ON BRICKS bearing applications, providing the mix is appropriately
A. Compressive Strength Test: designed and prepared for the required properties.
Considering the number of bricks produced around the
The brick specimens are immersed in water for 24 hours.
world every year, recycling CBs into bricks could contribute
The specimen is placed in compression testing machine with
significantly to a sustainable solution of one of the serious
6mm plywood on top and bottom of it to get uniform load
environmental pollution problems on our planet. Cigarette
on the specimen. The load is applied axially at a rate of
butts into bricks could not just help solve a global littering
14N/mm2.The crushing load is noted. Then the crushing
problem, but cut brick production costs.
strength is the ratio of crushing load to the area of brick

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 Cigarette Butt Bricks
(IJSRD/Vol. 8/Issue 3/2020/092)

If 2.5 percent of the world's annual brick

production incorporated 1 percent cigarette butt content, it
would be possible to completely offset annual worldwide
cigarette production. Adding butts to the mix allows to cut
the energy needed to fire bricks by up to 58 percent. The
added material also resulted in lighter bricks, with better
insulation properties, reducing household heating and
cooling costs, while maintaining properties very similar to
those of normal bricks. When the bricks are fired, the heavy
metals and other pollutants in the cigarette butts are trapped
and immobilized in the bricks, reducing the problems caused
by leaching and contamination. As the amount of cigarette
butt content increased in the bricks, they became cheaper.
The tested bricks content up to 10 percent cigarette butt. At
that level, the dry density of the bricks decreased by up to 30
percent, and the compressive strength decreased by 88
percent. While greater cigarette butt content reduced the
suitability of the resulting bricks for load-bearing purposes,
it is possible to adjust these levels depending on the
intended purposes of the bricks.

REFERENCES
[1] https://theconstructor.org/building/cigarette-butt-
bricks/292/
[2] https://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/cigarette-
butts-make-better-bricks.html
[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279577246_Re
cycling_cigarette_butts_in_lightweight_fired_clay_brick
s

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