Recycle Butts

Cigarette butts, that is.

The above NY Times article details a new proposal by NY Assemblyman Michael DemDekker (awesome last name, if only he was Dan DemDekker) that would, as he says, create jobs and help the environment. Apparently, cigarette butts aren't just annoying pieces of trash on the street - they're filled with toxins and poisons that can kill fish and pollute our drinking and ground water. LAME.

But if we recycle them, we can turn them into art, adhesives, cloth, and even patches that can fix steel tubing and pipes and whatnot. Neat!

So why not? Well, it sounds like it will cost some money (the job creation bit), but maybe they can take that money from the cigarette companies? Of course, Big Tobacco will try to kill the program if that happens... but maybe we can try it!

Good luck, DemDekker! We're all pulling for you!