International Desk: In 2018, two brothers Namen Gupta and Vipul Gupta started thinking of recycling cigarette butts. He started working accordingly. Although there was no clear idea about this in the beginning, now this initiative of theirs has taken a big form. The two brothers also built a factory for this purpose. And their initiative is being appreciated in different circles.

Two young entrepreneurs are being praised for making toys, pillows and other materials from discarded cigarette butts in India. For this, two young people have built a company called Code Effort Private Limited, which has a factory in Noida suburb on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital of India. The entrepreneurs of the company say that besides creating employment through this work, they are also working to protect the environment. News from NDTV and Anadolu Agency

Entrepreneur Namen Gupta said, 'We started with 10 grams of cotton (fiber) a day. Now I am collecting 1000 kg of cotton daily. In this way, we are recycling millions of cigarette butts every year.

First they collected cigarette stubs from different streets of the city. Then the fiber or cotton part is separated from it and cleaned and sterilized. Various products are made from this processed cotton. Nomen, founder of Code Effort, says a cigarette consists of three components—fiber, paper and tobacco. We are recycling all these three parts. So far more than 30 crore cigarette butts have been collected and processed from the streets. They made several products with these yarns including soft toys, pillows, various stationery products and home decoration items.

Apart from this, the outer paper layer of cigarette butts and waste tobacco are also separated and recycled. Later they are recycled into paper and compost powder. Apart from this, they have recently started making diaries, notepads, envelopes etc. Namen Gupta is working to recycle at least 3,500 crore cigarette butts by 2026.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to their estimates, 30 percent or about 267 million people in India use tobacco. Millions of cigarette butts are thrown on the streets every day. Along with the dirt of the road, it also causes environmental pollution. The initiative of two brothers can play a big role in reducing that pollution.

Namen Gupta said, 'By recycling the cigarette butts left on the road, we are contributing to environmental protection. Besides, we are encouraging people to give up cigarettes through various awareness activities.'