The industry has a plastics problem.
If you’ve bought cannabis products lately (from a dispensary or delivery service…not your local weed guy) you’ve likely experienced just how much packaging material is involved in the process—lots of plastic wrapped in more plastic.
After you open your goods, are you recycling the packaging you tore through? Is it actually recyclable? Our guess is that a majority is not. The single use plastic packaging becomes simply that—single use.
It’s immediately thrown in the trash, contributing to the global waste crisis.
Plastic’s Impact on the Planet
In case you missed it, single use plastic is…bad. According to Plastic Oceans, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about plastic pollution, 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year. Fifty percent of that is designed for single use purposes.
Not all of this plastic is recycled, nor is it recycled properly. Each year, more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean. If it doesn’t end up in our seas, it ends up in an already overflowing landfill where it can take about 1,000 years to decompose.
Some states are taking action toward reducing plastic waste. Single-use plastic bag bans for large retailers are in effect in California. Cities like Washington D.C., Seattle, Miami Beach, and more communities across the nation have banned plastic straws.
Bags and straws are not the only things contributing to plastic pollution and overflowing landfills, though.
Packaging accounts for 40% of overall plastic use, according to Plastic Oceans.
Why is There so Much Plastic Packaging in the Cannabis Industry?
Use of plastics is just as much of a problem in the cannabis industry as any other. After all, the products have to be packaged in something. But another industry using more and more plastic packaging, without eco-friendly regulations in place, isn’t exactly great for our planet. The cannabis industry has a long way to go when it comes to sustainability.
There are a few factors that contribute to the industry’s packaging problem. The first are state laws and regulations, which force brands to use more packaging than may actually be necessary for things like childproofing cannabis products.
For example, according to the Washington State Legislature, “If there is more than one serving of marijuana-infused solid edible products in the package, each serving must be packaged individually in child resistant packaging.”
Another factor is premiumization, or using packaging to make the product look high quality. With so many brands available, and so little shelf space, companies must make their product stand out. Premium packaging is one way to achieve this, writes Alex Collins, co-founder of Sapling, an industry marketing and branding company, in Medium.
The third factor is price.
Using packaging made from recycled materials or bioplastics like hemp can be more expensive than use of run of the mill plastics, which are relatively cheap. To give you an idea, a traditional plastic pre-roll tube costs around $.07-$.10, whereas hemp bioplastic or reclaimed plastic tubes made by sustainable packaging company Sana Packaging costs $.24-$.30 each.
The cost is unattainable for many cannabis companies—most of which are already trying to stay afloat while struggling to pay taxes, licensing fees, and more.
More states are legalizing; more brands are emerging; and more dispensaries are opening. And more weed means more packaging. Easier, legal access to cannabis is great for so many reasons—but what about the environmental cost?
Making Moves to Change the Industry
Ron Basak-Smith, CEO and co-founder of Sana Packaging, has lofty goals for changing the cannabis industry. His company currently offers a small selection of tubes and containers made from 100% reclaimed ocean plastic, or hemp plastic. Hemp plastics are 100% plant-based and chemical-free. Reclaimed products are made in partnership with Ocean Works, a leader in the sustainable plastics space.
Sana launched their hemp products—the cannabis industry’s first 100% plant-based hemp plastic packaging solution—in July 2018. Their reclaimed plastic packaging system, also a first of its kind in the industry, launched in March 2019.
“[Co-founder, James Eichner] and I were shopping in dispensaries for several years before this, and we just thought, ‘this is not right, the amount of plastic in the packaging,’” Basak-Smith recalls. “I’m trying to just get high over here and have a good time, and I feel shitty about it every time. It’s just not alright, and we shouldn’t have to feel that way.”
The concept for Sana Packaging came about while Basak-Smith and Eichner were working on their MBAs in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship, and Finance from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Both entrepreneurs recognized that they were being inundated with single use plastic, and this was not sustainable for the long term in the slightest bit. They pitched their business idea in a university course that culminated in a “Sustainable Shark Tank” and were met with acclaim.
“We ended up winning,” Basak-Smith recalls. They decided to pursue the business full-time, and Sana Packaging has plowed forward ever since—but not without its challenges.
“I think our understanding of hemp is at a pretty rudimentary stage, especially for creating consumable goods out of it […] and having a proper supply chain. That’s really what we’re working towards,” he adds.
“We have continuous issues,” he explains. “Because it’s so new, we take things really slow with the hemp products. We’re not trying to promise the world to anyone, but [we know] that the future is bright if we stay focused with it.”
It’s not cheap to manufacture hemp packaging or reclaimed plastic packaging. Even just creating the molds for these new products is expensive.
Basak-Smith says both their hemp and reclaimed plastic products are two or three times more expensive than traditional packaging options.
“We want more people doing sustainable packaging. We want to see it normalized in the industry. We’re showing that there’s a willingness [for cannabis brands] to pay sometimes two [or] three times more for packaging,” Basak-Smith says.
When the company first launched, people told him he was crazy for thinking anyone would pay that much for packaging. Now, Sana Packaging is proving those people wrong.
“I believe in the ethos of the cannabis industry and I believe there are people out there that care more about the environment than the bottom line,” he says.
It’s not just these companies that are willing to pay more to be sustainable—it’s consumers too.
A 2019 survey conducted by CGS—a business applications, outsourcing and learning company—found that more than two-thirds of respondents consider sustainability when shopping for new products; and 47% of them said they would pay more for them.
Basak-Smith remains modest, but hopeful about Sana Packaging’s impact.
“At this point, we do not see anything that we’re doing as a silver bullet,” he admits.
“There’s a ton of improvement that’s needed, but we’re starting on the path of saying ‘Hey, these are the processes that need to be put in place to use 100% reclaimed material or to use hemp byproduct material from the industry, and this is how you can make packaging out of it.’”
The company’s next goal is to create a way to make new packaging out of reclaimed cannabis packaging in a “closed loop” system so it won’t end up in a landfill.
The brand is already working with customers in dispensaries in Colorado towards this.
Recycling Non-Recyclables and Making a Difference on Your own
Tom Szaky, expert on all things recycling and founder of Terracycle, a social enterprise that aims to “eliminate the idea of waste,” is also working toward a solution to the industry’s plastics problem.
“Cannabis comes in containers that are hard to recycle or [are] non-recyclable, so we work with [cannabis brand] Tweed to do national collection of cannabis packaging,” Szaky explains.
Together, they collect these specific types of packaging and upcycle it.
There are two ways Canadian consumers can contribute to the program. “We’ll pick up the packaging from you, or you can drop off at many dispensaries across the country…and that number is growing,” says Szaky.
“[The collected waste] is sent to one of our warehouses in Canada where we then store it until we have enough volume, usually about 20,000 to 40,000 kilos,” he continues. “Then at that point in time, we’ve come up with different processes for how we separate the packaging forms into the various materials they’re made from.”
From there, he adds, “we recycle those materials into new plastics, metals, and other things that can be made into new products.”
Sounds a lot better to us than ending up in a landfill, or worse—the ocean!
Sadly, a program of this scale cannot exist on a national level in the U.S. Szaky explains that in Canada, “it’s federally legal, so it’s possible to do it there. We will launch in the U.S. as soon as it’s federally possible.”
Nationwide legalization could have positive environmental impacts, something many people don’t realize, Szaky says. While Americans don’t have a pick-up recycling program yet, we are still able to make positive changes at an individual level. Szaky has actionable advice for those who want to be more conscious, eco-friendly consumers: write your lawmakers.
“‘[…] Lawmakers should champion for [federal legalization], not for the sake of more access to pot, but to allow for the packaging to be sustainable,” he says. Get in contact with the cannabis brands you buy from that have excessive packaging and let them know how you feel about it via social media or otherwise. Also, be aware that you can vote with your dollar by supporting brands who are running their businesses in a way that aligns with your values.
“Vote for those products that come in the most environmentally friendly package forms,” Szaky urges. “That sends a message to the industry that consumers care. The big problem right now is that the message the consumer is sending is that they want the fanciest, coolest, non-recyclable package—and that’s the wrong message to be voting for.”
It can be hard to know what packaging is sustainable and what isn’t just by looking at it. Do your research, or ask your eco-conscious friends which brands are their favorites.
Ask your budtender about affiliated recycling programs, or if they can steer you in the right direction. Some brands may have their own program, like Dosist, which specialize in “disposable” vape pens. You can return an empty Dosist pen to the dispensary you got it from, if they participate.
How Cannabis Brands can be More Sustainable
Other than simply reducing packaging. Szaky has advice for cannabis brands that walk the walk and talk the talk when it comes to being more sustainable.
Szaky says the best way to do that is to “call up a local recycling center and say, ‘I have this packaging—is this something that you would be excited seeing in your recycling stream, or not?’”
“That’s something that is very key to think about as you design,” he notes, “do the garbage companies that have to deal with this even want it, and would they be able to deal with it?”
Szaky recommends businesses ensure their packaging is recyclable. If a brand must use traditional virgin materials, he urges them to use one of these three materials: Clear glass, rigid clear PET, or rigid light colored HDPE. “Tell people that they should recycle on the packaging. Then think about making it from those materials, but recycled content,” he says. “That’s the secret sauce.”
What it all comes down to is how much we value our environment, and how much ingenuity we can have, says Basak-Smith of Sana Packaging. “There has to be this ethos in the cannabis space around nature, the environment and its importance in our lives. Hopefully the industry can continue to practice what they preach.”
Written by Ashley Laderer
This article was published in The Emerald Magazine’s EARTH edition.
This sounds like a press release for Sana, Dig deeper and you will find that bioplastic is just that, PLASTIC!! You never brought up truly sustainable packaging companies such as Emerald Cup winning MM Green Packaging Solutions .
Was this a sponsored article or are you just a lazy journalist.