No ifs or butts: This startup is converting cigarette waste into sustainable products

After a 14-year stint in Australia, Ketan Prajapati returned to India and realised that a smoking habit doesn’t just affect lungs but also pollutes the environment—often spilling out onto the streets. 

“In Warrnambool, where I used to live, there was a waste disposal site every 100 meters or so. Not so in our country. When I used to smoke, I ended up carrying the waste in a cigarette packet as I had developed a habit against littering. Eventually I realised many face this issue and started working towards solving it,” Prajapati says. 

According to the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, the environmental burden of tobacco product waste is huge. The waste produced by the packaging of tobacco products in India amounts to over 1,70,000 tonnes per year; of this, waste produced by cigarette consumption is about 40,846 tonnes per year. 

Prajapati wants to tackle this problem with BuffIndia, the B2B waste management company he co-founded in 2018 with Nikhil Mangani to recycle cigarette waste. 

A slow start

BuffIndia was founded in October 2018, but it took Prajapati and his team almost four years to complete R&D. The bigger challenge was to create a shift from the culture of wastefulness that had become part of the urban Indian zeitgeist. 

“A key challenge was to bring a change in habits. Our country spends a lot on waste management and recycling, but how many people know why we need to be doing it? Why is the segregation of waste necessary? My core focus with cigarette waste management was to create this change in people to dispose of stubbed cigarettes properly,” he says. 

However, the bootstrapped company struggled to find clients. “It was April 2022 and I had almost given up. I was almost about to close BuffIndia. Everyone I approached, pan vendors or cafes, didn’t seem to understand why sustainability is important,” he recalls. 

The founder and founding director of BuffIndia had reached out to Adani Group on LinkedIn; they showed interest and set up a meeting. “We acquired them as our first client in February 2023. Soon after, we got Taj Hotels as well. That really changed my idea about how large corporations work,” Prajapati says. 

Punching up

While BuffIndia has its footprint in 22 states and 85 cities across India, its primary waste processing site is at its headquarters in Ahmedabad. Its flagship product is a fire-proof recycling kiosk for cigarette disposal; this is installed on premises on an annual rental basis.

The BuffIndia team ensures timely and efficient door-to-door collection of cigarette waste, and also conducts awareness activities to help adopt responsible cigarette waste disposal habits. 

“Our waste processing site and R&D sites are in Ahmedabad. We work with various logistics companies that provide us space in their warehouses to store our kiosk material and the cigarette waste our employees collect,” Prajapati says. 

The waste is shipped to Ahmedabad, where processing is done. “We have full-time employees in Tier I and II cities for waste collection and kiosk installations. In Tier III cities and remote locations, we have student volunteers or unskilled labourers who work part time,” Prajapati says. 

The startup has a workforce of nearly 100 people. Its flagship product is installed in 1,350 premises, including over 450 major hotels and corporate clients. In March 2025, the company recycled about 32 lakh cigarette butts; it has upcycled 960 kg of microplastic till date.

Best out of waste

After the cigarette waste is collected, the 40-year-old entrepreneur emphasises on upcycling rather than recycling—to turn the recycled material into a new product. The waste is upcycled into eco-friendly decor and corporate gifting items under the brand Eco Art. 

“This upcycled product needs to be aesthetically pleasing – and pocket friendly. One might buy an expensive sustainable product maybe two times out of their love for the environment but it has to be cheaper than the alternative to establish a circular economy,” he says.

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For BuffIndia, at the heart of upcycling, aesthetic appeal and affordable product lies Eco-Art: its ecommerce store for sustainable products. It is primarily overseen by Prajapati’s wife Dr Anjana Prajapati, a former English professor. The idea was conceived after the birth of their daughter and the launch of BuffIndia’s patented kiosk. 

“My wife had taken a break from work after conceiving our daughter. When we came up with Eco-Art, she ended up joining BuffIndia. She has always been interested in design and this helped her reignite that passion,” he says. 

Inspired by his wife’s situation, Prajapati hired stay-at-home mothers to create sustainable products. As of now, 16 mothers are working with BuffIndia in full-time and part-time capacities. 

The company plans to collaborate with ecommerce platforms like Amazon India to sell its products and operate on a B2C model soon. 

Funding and growth

The founders, who took their time with R&D, are choosing to be prudent when it comes to growth. Despite being active for the past 6.5 years, Prajapati decided to stay bootstrapped and did not try to raise funding. 

“Back in 2018, investors largely looked to fund tech startups because they believed tech companies would yield profits quicker. Nowadays, things have changed, people are investing in impact startups and waste management startups,” he says. 

Cleantech and sustainable startups don’t fall under the ‘impact-only’ niche anymore. According to a report by IVCA-EY, Q1 the year 2024 saw an investment of $238 million in climate and cleantech startups. This number is set to rise as India focuses on reaching its net-zero emissions goal by 2070.

BuffIndia competes directly with Noida-based Code Effort Private Limited, another cigarette waste disposal company. 

 “We started with investing Rs 1.75 crore in this company. We are raising about Rs 2 crore right now, as we speak. By 2030, we want to have 15% share of the total market pertaining to cigarette waste management in India and have an annual revenue of Rs 2,500 crore,” Prajapati states. 

This startup made Rs 40 lakh in annual revenue last year but has already made over Rs 12 lakh this year. “I’m aware that planning to hit Rs 2,500 crore is quite a lofty goal but we are aiming high,” he says.