Sachi Tungare project ‘Jugaad’, upcycles cigarettes butts into beautiful objects

Jugād /dʒuːˈɡɑːd/ in colloquial Hindi stands for the flexible approach to problem-solving using the limited resources at hand innovatively. In this project, Sachi Tungare looks at the waste with the perspective of jugaad, utilizing them as an alternate resource by extending their lifecycle.

Walk anywhere in the world, and one of the most common sights is the discarded cigarettes butt, crushed under the feet, thrown on the sidewalks and every place imaginable. When we think about plastic pollutant, we tend to ignore cigarettes butt, but it is the cellulose acetate within the paper wrapper that is causing harm to the environment.

The problem is quite big, with 4.5 trillion cigarettes being flung every year and one of the world's most littered items. Is it believed that every 2 out of 3 cigarettes filters, also known as butts end up in the trash and causes a significant challenge for the environment.

 

 

 

Having collected cigarette butts from the streets and cleaned them using ecological agents, an extensive study was carried out. In this project, Tungare explored its potential as a sustainable material, right from dissecting it and treating it to be toxin free and safe for human contact, to dissolving it and casting it in various molds – scoping for potential to add value to what was otherwise quite simply, trash. The result of this was a wide range of products: organizers, vases, coasters and even paper; to name a few.

Sachi utilizes the culturally ingrained ideology of jugaad by changing the approach towards available resources in such abundance.

 

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ABOUT SACHI TUNGARE

Sachi Tungare is a Mumbai based, freshly graduated, interdisciplinary designer. Her practice lies in bringing together the human and humane, tying the threads of needs and vulnerability with wellbeing. Her focus lies in investigating the context and uncovering its layers of complexities and nuances. The output is often tangible, in the form that best fits the theme at hand. She likes to think that design is her way of doing her bit for the planet.