The idea comes from the Essequadro company and the Smoking Glasses team of the Gruttola institute in Ariano Irpino.
Cellulose acetate is extracted to produce frames.
From waste to resource. Cigarette butts become materials for the production of eyeglass frames. All thanks to the extraction of cellulose acetate. This initiative is set up by Essequadro, an Irpinian company with over 50 years of experience in the sector, which has embraced the Oscar cigarette glasses project monitored in the 2023-2024 school year by the Smoking Glasses team of the “G. De Gruttola” Institute in Ariano Irpino. The idea was born during a business trip with the owner – says Simone Sorrentino, financial manager of Essquadro, we found an article that talked about the possibility of extracting acetate from cigarette butts”. The rest comes once they return to the plant where they produce “in an artisanal way but with cutting-edge tools” glasses both for third parties and on their own.
The idea of the research office
The idea comes from the analysis conducted by the R&D department of Essequadro regarding the specific composition of cigarette butts – adds Sorrentino -. Inside the butt we find 2 main parts: the unburned tobacco and the filter. The latter is made from cellulose acetate, the same material used to make glasses. It is important to remember that butts are an extremely present waste in our environment, indeed they are part of the top ten waste that contributes to environmental pollution. In fact, the cellulose acetate fibers present inside the cigarette filter, as a result of thermal and mechanical stress, shatter with the consequent production of non-biodegradable microplastics.
The patent
Then the development of the project that “today has also been patented by us”. We spoke with the Institute for Compound Polymers and Biomaterials of the National Research Council (IPCB – CNR) and a partnership was born with our company – adds the manager – with the aim of developing a project that aimed at extracting acetate from cigarette butts and then preparing the secondary raw material for the production of frames for glasses.
