Design for eco-friendly cigarette

The aim was to making smoking 'a greener process'

Two Tyneside students have invented eco-friendly cigarettes which dissolve in rain water.

It takes 12 years for an ordinary butt to rot away but the new cigarette which is made of vegetable starch and recycled hemp washes away in minutes.

The filter was the brainchild of Lisa Hanking and Lucy Denham who scooped first prize in an innovation contest at Northumbria University's Design School.

The pair also came up with the idea of selling cigarettes in refillable tins.

Miss Denham, who is a second year student at the university's Design School, said: "We didn't want to put the emphasis on the rights and wrongs of smoking.

"If people want to smoke there is not much you can do about it but we felt there were steps that could be taken to make the smoking process a greener one."

'Real power'

The environmentally-friendly cigarettes are made of dissolvable starch filters and hemp paper, which eventually rots away.

Miss Hanking added: "People leave cigarette butts on the ground, but it's not really considered as litter although it takes 12 years for just one to biodegrade."

The design contest was organised by the university and Chester-le-Street District Council.

Andy Stephenson, sustainability officer at the council, said: "These young designers have the potential to really influence design as their careers progress.

"In the future they are likely to be able to exert real power over the way people will be living their lives."