When you think recycling, newspapers, plastic bottles and aluminum cans probably come to mind. But one researcher wants to add cigarette butts to the list.

Jun Zhao, a Ph.D. student in the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China, and a team of scientists found that cigarette butts can be put to good use. Their study, which is published in the American Chemical Society journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, shows that extracts of cigarette butts that have been submerged in water can help prevent steel from rusting.

Application of the cigarette material to N80, a type of steel, could save millions of dollars a year that oil industries spend on steel repair, the study says. The research suggests that nine chemicals in cigarette butts, including nicotine, work to inhibit corrosion.

In an e-mail interview from China, Zhao explained that application of cigarette butts as a corrosion inhibitor could reduce the use of chemical materials applied to steel today and cut down on cigarette pollution.

According to the study, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts pollute the environment every year.

Bryan Early, a policy associate for environmental advocacy group Californians Against Waste, says cigarette butts are a major contributor to marine debris. "Cigarette butts are generally considered ... the most commonly found piece of litter in beach cleanup studies," Early says. They pose a hazard for species that choke on butts or are killed by the toxins, Early says.

But Early says he doesn't believe it's practical to make cigarette butts a recyclable material. He adds that his group would never attempt it.

"I couldn't even imagine a situation where you would develop a market for the recycling of little packets of junk," he says. "There's no way."

But Michael DenDekker, a Democratic assemblyman in the New York State Assembly, is sponsoring a bill that calls for a cigarette butt recycling program for New York. The bill — proposed as a result of Zhao's research — plans to establish at least one recycling facility in each county and offer a consumer refund of 1 cent per cigarette.

Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest tobacco manufacturer, said he could not comment on the study because he hadn't reviewed it. But he said Philip Morris recognizes that cigarettes are a "significant contributor" to litter in the environment.

"Philip Morris USA is working to help address this issue by partnering with others, including Keep America Beautiful, in educating smokers that cigarettes are litter and they should be disposed of properly," he said.

Zhao acknowledges that cigarette litter is widespread and that it would be difficult for individuals or groups to organize litter collection. Yet he is hopeful that garbage collection agencies may one day lead an initiative focused on cigarette butt recycling.

(By Stephanie Steinberg, USA TODAY, 07/07/2010)