Des Moines has become one of the country's top cigarette-butt recyclers, officials from TerraCycle, a global recycler that helps process the city's collection, tell Axios.

Why it matters: Cigarette filters are made of plastic, not cotton, as many people believe.

• They don't decompose quickly and often wash into waterways, where recent research shows they hinder aquatic species' ability to reproduce and contribute to microplastic pollution in humans.

Catch up quick: TerraCycle is a New Jersey-based company that focuses on materials often discarded after use because reusing or recycling them isn't profitable.

• It has partnerships with hundreds of governments and businesses, including Amazon, and offers the only nationwide free mail-in cigarette waste recycling program in the U.S.
• Operation Downtown, a group that helps keep downtown DSM clean, joined the program in 2022.

How it works: The company provides shipping labels to participants who send up to 50 pounds of cigarette butts at a time to a processing facility in Illinois.

• The filters are mechanically separated from residual paper ash and tobacco, then processed into plastic pellets used for outdoor furniture and industrial pallets.

By the numbers: TerraCycle's tracking over the past nine years shows that Operation Downtown has recycled about 867,000 cigarette butts — the third highest among governments or their municipal partners in the program, spokesperson Eric Ascalon tells Axios.

• Keep New Hanover Beautiful in Wilmington, North Carolina, has recycled nearly 3.2 million cigarettes, and Keep Key West Beautiful has recycled over 1.1 million.

What they're saying: The program supports Operation Downtown's broader cleanliness efforts, executive director Amy Lego tells Axios.

• In the fiscal year that ended in June, Operation Downtown removed almost 679,000 pounds of trash and more than 3,000 graffiti tags, she said.

The bottom line: We clean our butts.

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Hanukkah starts at sundown Sunday, Dec. 14, with Dec. 15 as the first full day of the holiday this year.

What's happening: Hanukkah 2025 begins on a different day on the Gregorian calendar than it did last year (and will next year), but it's on the same date annually on the lunisolar Hebrew calendar.

Between the lines: Hanukkah starts on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar.

• The Hebrew calendar — also called the Jewish calendar — is timed according to the moon, with a "leap" month added seven times in every 19-year cycle.
• It works out that Jewish holidays are around the same time every year — like Hanukkah always being in the winter — and there's a full moon on the 15th of the month and a new moon at the start of the month.

Zoom in: Maccabees Deli in Des Moines is holding its menorah lighting starting at 4pm Sunday with a gelt drop.

• They'll hold a lighting every day of Hanukkah.

Friday

🎭 "The Nutcracker" | Ballet Des Moines is performing the holiday tradition at Hoyt Sherman Place. | Today, tomorrow and Sunday | Ticket prices vary

Saturday

🌎 Winter Holidays Around the World at Jester Park | Pick up a passport and explore how winter holidays like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Santa Lucia Day and Christmas are celebrated in Iowa. | 10am–12pm | Jester Park Nature Center | Free!

📚 Holiday jazz concert | Tap your toes to jazzy holiday classics and 50s–60s hits, while sipping free hot chocolate at the Des Moines Central Library. | 2–3pm | Free!

🎄 Holiday Whobilation at Walnut Creek YMCA | Decorate cookies, play games and take photos with the Grinch at the Walnut Creek YMCA. | 4–7pm | Free, but register here.

Sunday

🛍️ Holiday Shop Hop | Explore the growing small business scene in Highland Park. Visit shops for stamps and a chance to win a holiday basket! | 11am–3pm | Free!

The popular stocking stuffer or appetizer of the season may be a little more fishy than what you're used to.

State of play: Tinned fish is having a renaissance, with brands elevating sardines, mackerel and anchovies into premium-priced delicacies.

• At Django in downtown Des Moines, the trend has earned a spot on the menu, from smoked mackerel with chili flakes ($12) to smoked salmon ($20).
• You'll also find it at restaurants like Waterfront Market and The Cheese Shop.

What they're saying: George Formaro, the chef behind the menu at Django and several other Orchestrate-owned restaurants, says they decided to try Fishwife's line at Django and serve it alongside accoutrements like crackers, toast, compound butter and olives.

• "I understand if somebody says, 'Ew, sardines,' but hey, you try any of these items that come from Fishwife and they're really game changing," he says.

The big picture: Even though Iowans often joke about being landlocked, Des Moines has a long history of seafood culture, he says.

• In a city directory he found stemming back from 1866, an oyster house was listed as a business.
• "Iowans love seafood, and Iowans do a great job with it, in spite of us not really having any water that we get very much of our seafood out of," he says.