by WBKO News Staff |

MOREHEAD, Ky. (CNN) — As legislation passes through the Kentucky Senate to the House to regulate smoking in public schools and their events, so Kentucky students are inventing a “green” cigarette alternative.

The group of three, made up by middle schoolers Andrew Witak, Megan Hodge, and Jake Linderman say they thought up their idea after watching a video of birds dying from eating cigarette butts.

“Their stomachs can’t break it down so they always feel full and they can die from malnutrition,” says Hodge.

The kids found out that over five trillion cigarettes are thrown out each year and decided to figure out a way to lessen the impact of the butts sprinkled around the ground.

Their invention used a common filter ingredient in refrigerators and water filters called ‘activated charcoal’ and they also switched the wrapping to corn starch paper, making each cigarette cost only three cents to make.

“People have the mentality of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, but it really is broken in a way and it’s really unhealthy for animals and humans,” says Hodge.

Right now, the group is still struggling to raise the $7,000 dollars needed for the registration and a trip to their world invention competition in late April.

In the meantime, the bill banning tobacco products in Kentucky’s public schools has passed the state senate and is heading to the state house.