KYBProject launches lightweight concrete made from recycled cigarette butts

KYBProject, a creative project initiated by ONX Studio, just launched new tray products made from lightweight concrete Multipur^^^^pose. Highlighting the importance of sustainability, the lightweight concrete is made from recycled cigarette butts. According to KYBProject, 1,200 recycled cigarettes are used in producing one multipurpose tray, 

“The exploration of this formula started off when we saw a lot of cigarette butts around the office. We then realised that processing and recycling cigarette butts have a lot of creative potential. One of them is to make products made of lightweight concrete,” said Rony Rahadian, CEO of Ide Dua Cipta, the company behind KYBProject and ONX Studio. 

“This ultimately encouraged the team to do research and development in order to learn more about how to process cigarette butts into signature materials that can be used to develop a variety of products,” he added.

KYBProject have also tried to utilise other types of waste as the raw materials for the lightweight concrete. Non-waste raw materials, such as ash, charcoal, wood powder and natural fibres, such as coconut, can also be used. However, the character and weight of concrete from each raw material are different. 

Styrofoam and cloth waste have the closest weight and character of lightweight concrete made from recycled butts. They have also tried to use plastic waste, such as bottle caps and masks, but the result cannot be considered as lightweight concrete.

KYBProject has explored using lightweight concrete to create many products, from large to small sizes, with quite complicated details. This includes lightweight bricks, roster, coffee tray, ashtray and other elements needed to design a product. The largest product made from recycled butt lightweight concrete is a 200 x 500 cm modular wall. 

In accordance with the values that they hold, KYBProject stated that the application of lightweight concrete can always be explored depending on the needs of certain product development.