The brains behind the eco-friendly cigarette

Straws and plastic bags might get all the attention, but a study conducted in Cape Town last year also identified cigarette butts as one of the most common man-made pollutants.

In fact, global research suggests that out of the 5.6 trillion cigarettes smoked each year, two-thirds aren’t properly disposed of and that the ubiquitous nicotine-stained cigarette butt is the most pervasive contaminant in the world’s oceans.

As the brains behind a recently launched ecofriendly cigarette which aims to remove the unsightly mess – Robyn Cronje is on a mission to do something about it.

Having spent her early childhood in rural Limpopo before moving to Gauteng – where her family eventually settled on a picturesque farm nestled in the rolling hills of Muldersdrift – Cronje has always felt a deep connection to the natural world.

And she is passionate about finding sustainable ways of decreasing our impact on the environment.

After earning a degree in brand communication from Vega School, Cronje spent some time abroad, working first at a
ski resort in Austria and later on a super yacht owned by the famous Getty family.

Eco friendly cigarette brand Bare, photographed 14 January 2021, after an interview with founder Robyn Cronje, in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg. Picture: Michel Bega

She returned to South Africa when she was 26 and started a business manufacturing furniture from reclaimed wood and other upcycled materials.

Cronje first started toying with the idea of ecofriendly cigarettes after a discussion with her father – himself a tobacco blender – about seven years ago.

The number one issue when it comes to most cigarette filters, as Cronje explains it, is that they’re made from a form of plastic – known as cellulose acetate – and take years to decompose.

And because they take so long to break down, the problem is becoming more compounded.

“We’re never going to stop people from smoking altogether. It’s something they’ve been doing for years,” Cronje says.

“But there are things we can do to at least lessen the toll it takes on the environment. And even if it’s only a small step, it’s a small step in the right direction”.

BARE was finally launched last August and touts its wares as a greener alternative to other cigarettes.

Cronje says the company’s focus is on sustainability and leaving as minimal a footprint as possible.

It is 100% biodegradable – “from box to butt,” as the website says – the entire product is biodegradable and manufactured locally using tobacco from community grown farms, she explains.

Robyn Cronje, founder of eco friendly cigarette brand Bare, speaks during an interview with The Citizen, 14 January 2021, in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg. Picture: Michel Bega

The tobacco industry is still a heavily male-dominated one and Cronje says it can be difficult trying to challenge the status quo as a woman.

“I’m lucky in that I have an incredible team behind me,” she says. “I have a very different approach. And sometimes, I’m considered unrealistic.”

But, she says, the proof is in the pudding.

It may seem an odd time to launch a new cigarette brand, with the market still reeling from the ban on tobacco sales that was put in place in the early stages of the national lockdown.

But Cronje says BARE is already making waves.

“Both in the niche and the more mainstream markets,” she says.

And she’s confident that in the coming months, the concept behind the brand will win hearts and minds across the country.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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