Eco-warrior creates toys, mosquito repellents and furnishings from recycling old cigarettes

Eco-warrior creates toys, mosquito repellents and furnishings from recycling old cigarettes

An eco-warrior has made more than $1m by making toys, keyrings, mosquito repellents and organic compost - from old cigarette butts.

Naman Gupta, 26, was inspired when he saw a huge pile of cigs left after a party, and wondered how many were dumped across the world on a daily basis.

So now he runs a company which installs bins in cities to collect butts, which are then recycled and made into anything from cushions to keyrings.

Since its inception in 2016, Naman says his company has made over $1m (USD) and has recycled 300,000,000 cigarette butts - the equivalent of 100,000kgs.

Naman from Noida in Uttar Pradesh, India, said: "There was a misconception that it must be made out of cotton, so not everybody notices the problem that it is actually plastic."There were no laws or companies who were recycling or managing this kind of waste, it was a completely new concept in India.

I am passionate - it's not just about the money, we are doing it to service society and tackle the problem society has and provide the solution."Naman was in his third year at Delhi University studying commerce when he decided he wanted to start the first cigarette recycling company in India - CODE Effort.

The then 21-year-old found cigarettes are the most littered object in the world, and the plastic in the filter takes up to 12 years to degrade.