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C2C of France has launched SOWAT® – an environmentally friendly, recycled clip-on ashtray that can be attached to a packet of cigarettes, enabling smokers to store cigarette butts for safe and clean disposal. SOWAT® is designed to encourage environmentally friendly consumer behaviour among smokers. It is made of recycled polycarbonate and is attached to the cigarette pack, with a retractable drawer to extinguish cigarettes. It can store up to 10 butts for easy disposal at a later time.
Having carried out extensive studies of smokers’ behaviour, French company C2C realised that a potential solution to the problem would lie in attaching an ashtray directly to the cigarette pack, which would enable the smoker to extinguish, and then store, the cigarette end. In this way, safe and clean disposal of the cigarette butts would be easier and more convenient for smokers, as the ashtray is available at all times.
The disposal of cigarette ends represents a serious problem. The City of London Corporation, which runs the financial district of the British capital, has recently introduced an £80 fine for dropping cigarette butts in the street. This reflects the extent of smoking-related litter – an estimated 7,000 cigarettes butts are discarded in the Square Mile every day.
Numerous disposable pocket-sized ashtrays are distributed by cigarette manufacturers, which are also then thrown away, generating further waste. In addition, cigarette packets, lighters and matches are frequently dropped in the street by smokers. All of this adds up to a substantial litter problem, which has been accentuated by the ban on smoking in public places, recently introduced across England – indeed, smokers are now more likely to smoke in the street, where ashtrays or litter bins are not always available.
Alongside the problems of littering, cigarette butts also cause other environmental problems. As cigarettes are often still burning when they are discarded, smokers frequently stamp on them in order to extinguish the flame, after dropping them in the street, and the cigarette butt is left on the ground afterwards.
A recent study by biologists at San Diego University (USA) estimated that 845,000 tonnes of cigarette butts are discarded worldwide every year. The study showed that each butt contains potentially toxic heavy metals, phenols, arsenic, acids and chloride, which can accumulate in water sources (eventually killing marine life). The San Diego University study recommended that cigarette butts be classified as hazardous waste.
As a result of this research, C2C has launched the SOWAT® case – with SOWAT® standing for Smoke Only With Ash Tray – which was patented in September 2009. The case is airtight, lightweight and attractive. It is not bulky and is designed to fit in a pocket. It fits any standard flip-top, 20-cigarette pack. It is available in many versions, from more subdued styles in carbon or mahogany colours to fun models in fluorescent shades. Elegant models in gold, as well as a fully transparent design, are also available. SOWAT® can also be customised with the logos of associations or companies.
SOWAT® is made of entirely recycled materials. Moreover, as the factories used to make the SOWAT® ashtray are located in France, the product’s carbon footprint is low within Europe. Depending on volumes sold and growth in demand, C2C will set up production units in other countries, in due country, so as to keep the carbon footprint of the SOWAT® operation down.
C2C has been granted the Made in Respect label by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Saint-Étienne (www.madeinrespect.org), in the centre of France.
About C2C
C2C, which was founded in 2007, is headquartered near Lyons (in south-eastern France). C2C received support from the Rhône-Alpes Region in 2008 in order to develop its innovative products.
The company has developed the SOWAT® clip-on ashtray in collaboration with Idéstyle Technologie, an international engineering company, and designer Philippe Moine.
C2C also manufactures an innovative collection of unbreakable drinking glasses, which are particularly suited to bars and pubs.
For further information, please go to: www.sowat.eu
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