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Mock-up cigarettes using Greenbutts filter plugs. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Filtrona’s ECO Tube Dual filter, containing “Genia”. Photo credit: Filtrona Group
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Filtrona’s ECO range, such as the pictured ECO Cavitec Sensation filter here, is manufactured using various substrates, including McAirlaids’ “Genia”. Photo credit: Filtrona Group
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Hugo Azinheira, Filtrona’s global director for innovation and ESG. Photo credit: Filtrona Group
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Greenbutts co-founder and c.e.o., Tadas Lisauskas. Photo credit: Greenbutts
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Greenbutts chief strategy officer Luis Sanches. Photo credit: Filtrona Group
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When immersed in plain water, the Greenbutts substrate begins dispersing as soon as it’s immersed (left), while conventional CAT plugs remain completely unaffected. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
Finding a permanent replacement for cellulose acetate is a daunting endeavor.
Before cellulose acetate tow (CAT), cigarettes either were filter-less or tipped with simple, rather ineffective paper filters. But for about 70 years now, CAT has become the filter material of choice for almost all brands – and it tagged along all the negative aspects associated with it. CAT takes literally decades to degrade in nature. Discarded cigarette butts consistently are among the most littered items on the planet, polluting the environment, harming animals and costing communities countless millions of dollars for clean-ups. A viable replacement is sorely needed.
A passing procession of alternative materials
Of course, over the past half century there has been a myriad of attempts to find an alternative. Paper and cardboard filters, for example, made a short comeback in certain niche brands a few years back, but went the way of the dodo again after a while. They just couldn’t hold a candle to tried-and-tested CAT. Around 2015, a Chinese-American inventor came up with a 100% compostable filter plug made from a very common type of grass. Alas, the idea never ventured beyond the prototype stage because the inventor was unable to attract investors to support further development. Then there was polylactic acid (PLA), initially hailed as the ideal replacement for CAT. It wasn’t to be, primarily because there arose doubts and questions as per its supposed biodegradability performance. As a result, PLA vanished from the tobacco sector almost as fast as it had appeared.
But luckily, innovation didn’t stall. In recent years, companies like Germany’s McAirlaids and US firm Greenbutts have brought to fruition products they claim are fully biodegrade in free nature within weeks or even days. In the strenuous quest for the non-CAT filter, these materials currently represent perhaps two of the best shots at a viable CAT replacement that the industry has at hand.
Leading filter company experiments with alternatives
The world’s leading filter company, Singapore-based Filtrona Group, is already using both McAirlaids’ non-woven, plasticizer and resin-free, 100% cellulose Genia fleece as well as Greenbutts’ plant fiber-derived, paper-type product in some of its filter models. Apart from these two suppliers, the firm also routinely works with other manufacturers of non-woven materials, such as SWM, SQP, BMJ, Hengfeng, and Delfort “to find the best alternative materials that meet our criteria as well as those of our customers,” according to Filtrona global director for innovation and ESG, Hugo Azinheira.
The applied parameters that potential materials must meet are stringent (see side bar), with Azinheira readily admitting during his interview with Tobacco Asia that so far no alternative material was found to perfectly satisfy all evaluation criteria, though some come close. This hasn’t discouraged the filter company, though. “We continue working with our suppliers of alternative materials to [eventually] develop a product that can totally replace CAT,” said Azinheira. “One encouraging sign is that some of our tow suppliers are moving towards an ESG strategy that is more aligned with our commitment to develop more renewable, biodegradable, and environmentally sustainable products with a strong focus on life cycle assessment [LCA].”
Legislative pressure could force brands to switch
Regardless of the lack of a 100% perfect CAT replacement, there also persists in the mainstream industry a certain level of resistance to adopting (or switching to) alternative materials. Azinheira explained that stance with companies balking at the significant scale of the transformation required, and with a lot of money at stake. But another reason is that not all tobacco companies have the supply chain ready to support such a transition.
“The supply chains would have to be re-organized for the alternative materials,” Azinheira said. Yet, he did observe a growing trend among more progressive, forward-looking firms to explore raw materials that are less damaging to the environment. However, he pointed out that this trend is primarily driven by regulatory pressures. For instance, the European Union’s single use plastics directive (SUPD) classifies CAT as a plastic, and that could well see the material being made illegal for “use-and-discard” cigarette filters at some point in the future.
Genia and Greenbutts already deployed in Filtrona products
However, Azinheira assured that Filtrona would continue working with its suppliers to lend support to all those customers that are contemplating moving away from CAT. “At InterSupply 2023 in Dortmund, Filtrona and its suppliers organized a networking event to showcase to customers the range of alternative materials [presently] available to the industry,” he said. Some of the filter models in Filtrona’s own extensive portfolio already deploy such materials, at least in part. “For example, Filtrona’s ECO range filters are manufactured from various substrates including [McAirlaids’] Genia, which has excelled in some of the product tests we conducted,” said Azinheira. As Genia is 100% airlaid cellulose and not conditioned with any plasticizer or resin binders, it is unaffected by SUPD. “Our ECO range is plastic-free with higher biodegradability and a four times lower carbon footprint than CAT,” asserted Azinheira.
But Filtrona has also begun making use of Greenbutts. “We are currently supplying [some of] our North American customers with filters that are made with material by Greenbutts,” Azinheira divulged. In addition, the company recently formed a partnership with Greenbutts to manufacture biodegradable filters using the US firm’s local production machinery [see side bar].
Slow start for alternatives gives way to increased interest
Meanwhile, Greenbutts c.e.o. Tadas Lisauskas gave himself confident that the company’s innovative processing technologies can remedy the perceived negative aspects of paper-type filters. “We are laser-focused on implementing our new IP to achieve a new gold standard of filtration and taste for the alter-native filter market,” he told Tobacco Asia. He pointed out that until recently it had been a challenge for the industry because of the limited numbers of modern, high-quality, high-speed paper filter converting machines to service the market in a meaningful way. “Over the course of decades, the global filter rod manufacturing footprint and capability was built on CAT equipment only,” he said.
However, a gradual shift is apparently happening. “Today, most if not all the OEMs, due to their increasing commitments towards sustainability, are investing in alternative filter rod machine technologies,” Lisauskas said. Though lead times typically are still a year or longer for a unit to be set up and become operational. “This makes sales projections for producers as well as incorporating these machines onto the factory floor into veritable challenges.” But recent price increases for CAT paired with persistent global supply shortages could provide alternative materials with an additional boost at just the right time as to coincide with the European Union’s SUPD. All considered, this could well facilitate one of the most important tobacco industry transformations in decades.
The evolution of Greenbutts
Greenbutts’ ingenious filter material has of course undergone numerous improvements since the company embarked on intense r&d in early 2010 to find the perfect combination of natural fibers for its patented substrate. The goal from the get-go was to develop a material with the physical properties required to filter tobacco smoke efficiently and have a neutral taste profile while at the same time being strong enough to run through high-speed filter making machinery. Greenbutts received its first patent in 2016, “but at that time, the interest in replacing CAT in cigarettes was very limited, primarily because there was no legislative pressure for having a biodegradable alternative,” recalled Lisauskas. The company therefore decided to market Greenbutts filter tips and tubes for the RYO and MYO markets as well as supplying some “more inherently eco-conscious” hemp cigarette brands.
Then, in 2019, Lisauskas was approached by a cigarette producer from the First Nations Reserve in Canada. The company “appreciated the ethos of Greenbutts and created a line extension of one of their cigarette brands.” Most recently, Greenbutts signed a distribution agreement with German outfit H.I.E Handelsgesellschaft mbH for the production and sale of Greenbutts filter accessories for the RYO and MYO market across the EU. And with the addition of 4 new pending patents Greenbutts continues to evolve by further enhancing not only the manufacturing process itself but also the substrate’s crucial filtration efficiency and sensory properties. “Our ultimate goal is to be the first and best choice for replacing CAT, and we use every tool at our disposal to accomplish this,” enthused Lisauskas.
Fully degradable and water dispersing
Greenbutts is made of a combination of 4 natural fibers (abaca, cotton flock, tencel, and hemp) and uses a vegetable starch-based binder. For all intents and purposes, the substrate therefore is plastic-free. Keeping with its declared mission to serve as a replacement for single-use CAT filters, it also is fully biodegradable and water dispersing. As such, Greenbutts has been certified by Hohenstein Laboratories to break down in soil within 60 days. Furthermore, the company’s own water dispersion testing has shown that a Greenbutts filter rod disperses within 2 minutes in water with agitation. “In fact, we are currently in the process of obtaining our ‘TÜV OK’ marine and freshwater certification for marine and freshwater dispersability,” Lisauskas divulged.
Greenbutts chief strategy officer Luis Sanches told Tobacco Asia that the material’s filtering properties were assessed under two key pillars. The first, said Sanches, is related to consumer experience, encompassing usability, ergonomics, and sensory perception. “[A Greenbutts] filter must function as a reliable mouthpiece, deliver comfortable ergonomics for the lips, maintain its shape and physical properties during the smoking experience without deformation or hot-collapse, and have a structurally firm attachment to the tobacco rod,” he explained. At the same time, the filter must be permeable to all tobacco aromatics while trapping unpleasant sensorial “off-notes.” The second assessment pillar concerns the effectiveness to filter out smoke compounds, such as tar. Sanches readily admitted that on the filtration side, Greenbutts performance, when compared to CAT, was “a little weaker but still very close.”
Of course, Greenbutts is not oblivious to competitors like McAirlaids and others, but Tadas Lisauskas welcomes “all who want to solve the issue of polluting plastics in cigarette filters.” He said that “there must be a concerted effort to service the massive tobacco market from all angles… which is large enough to accommodate all players.” “For some brands Greenbutts will be a better fit, while others may find our competitors’ filters a better solution.” And so, the quest continues.
Alternative Material Evaluation
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Any given material that could potentially replace CAT is tested by Filtrona under numerous criteria. For this, the company evaluates a set of parameters, which are tied to a scoring system to determine the filter material’s suitability. “It’s a complex process, but we are mostly working to improve the sensory performance of the alternative materials, such as wood pulp-based non-woven materials, for example,” said Filtrona’s Hugo Azinheira. The deployed parameters include:
- Supplier availability
- Material main composition
- Cost
- Production scalability
- Carbon footprint
- Biodegradability
- Tar & nicotine delivery
- Pressure drop
- Hardness
- Pre-smoke visual
- Post-smoke visual
- Efficacy of phenols removal
Filtrona and Greenbutts Joint Development Agreement
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In late October 2023, Filtrona and Greenbutts announced in respective press releases a partnership to produce biodegradable filters for the US market. Under the joint development agreement (JDA) between the two companies, Filtrona will lease a US-located manufacturing machine from Greenbutts to produce biodegradable filters using its proprietary technology. The partnership supports the strategy of both companies to drive industry transformation by providing alternative sustainable filter solutions to traditional CAT filters. The collaboration also provides a strategic platform to effectively and quickly address the environmental impact of single-use plastic filters with quality solutions on a global scale.
“In response to the detrimental impact of plastic pollution on our planet, there is an urgent need to address the number one most littered item globally. Greenbutts has pioneered proprietary technology and advanced material science to bring a novel, performance-driven plastic alternative to the tobacco industry… providing a pathway for the industry to embrace environmental sustainability without compromising performance or consumer experience,” Greenbutts c.e.o. Tadas Lisauskas said.
And Filtrona c.e.o. Robert Pye commented: “We recognize that our customers are increasingly seeking sustainable products and we are on a journey with them to support this transformation alongside Greenbutts with our advanced filter technology and portfolio of renewable, degradable, and sustainable filters that can meet their product and regulatory needs. This joint development with Greenbutts is the first of many such collaborations which we will embark on to help drive the industry forward.”