A living piece of artwork made from half a million cigarette butts collected from across the Netherlands has been put on display in the city hall of Utrecht. The artist aims to make smokers think about the effects of their discarded cigarette stubs on the environment.

Cigarette waste collected in the Netherlands turned into art

During several clean-up campaigns in the Netherlands, more than 500.000 cigarette butts were collected. Angelina Kumar, an artist living in Utrecht who likes to tackle the topics of waste and sustainability in her art, created Het Peukenbos (The Cigarette Butt Forest) by growing fungus on cigarette filters to form pillars in the shape of tree trunks.

It took Kumar two years to develop this method in a lab and several prototypes. The living artwork has been on display in Utrecht’s city hall since this week and will continue to grow in the coming months.

Billions of cigarette butts thrown away every year

The National Expertise Centre for Tobacco Discouragement states that billions of cigarette butts are thrown away every year and the pollution they cause is substantial. "One cigarette butt on the street can pollute 1.000 litres of water," Kumar told RTV Utrecht. "One cigarette contains more than 7000 substances and 250 toxic compounds."

According to NOS, the main aim of the artwork is to make people aware of their behaviour and the effect it has on nature which will hopefully result in an end to throwing their cigarette butts on the streets. Het Peukenbos will remain in Utrecht until September, whereafter Kumar hopes it will travel to other cities and museums to spread awareness and elicit change.