Cannabis legalization is stirring many different debates, ranging from public safety and regulation to environmental impact. For decades, the cannabis black-market has relied on sandwich bags, turkey bags and even envelopes, but today’s legal industry runs mostly on plastic tubes, bottles and exit bags. In Canada, we’re already hearing reports of excessive packaging when it comes to purchasing legal product. Childproof packaging, along with the combination of labeling, marketing, post, and regulatory identifications, is raising environmental concerns. A few companies out there have set out to find a solution.
For example, Sana Packaging listened to consumers and came up with the idea of using hemp to package cannabis. One hundred percent recyclable, reusable and biodegradable hemp plastic could help usher in a greener tomorrow. The company offers tubes and bins that fit flower, pre-rolls, cartridges and edibles.
Hemp is eco-friendly and offers a solution to traditional plastics. It helps reduce carbon dioxide outputs, can be used as a food or building material and works to filter the soil and air!
Sciencemag.org reports, “Around eight million metric tons of our plastic waste enter the oceans from land each year.”
Hemp plastic is an excellent idea for slowing the production of plastic that makes its way to our oceans. Yet the question remains, what about all the plastic that is already out there? What can we do with it? How about make the same packaging for the cannabis industry that’s made with hemp? That’s a great idea and exactly what Sana Packaging did. You can get the same quality packaging materials from Sana Packaging, made from 100 percent reclaimed ocean plastic that you can get in 100 percent plant-based hemp plastic.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Marine debris injures and kills marine life, interferes with navigation safety and poses a threat to human health. Our oceans and waterways are polluted with a wide variety of marine debris, ranging from tiny microplastics to derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels. Today, there is no place on Earth immune to this problem.” Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that are endangering marine life and causing all sorts of other problems in the Earth’s oceans.
Could you imagine a world where the amount of plastic in our oceans exceeded the amount of fish in them? The Center for Biological Diversity points out that this is expected to happen in roughly the next 30 years. We already have floating garbage islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. You can learn more about the atrocities our oceans face by reading “Ocean Pollution” on NOAA’s website (noaa.gov).
It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to ruin our oceans, and it’s not too late to act now
Imagine if we were to take the strict packaging regulations with cannabis, and apply them to other industries such as alcohol and tobacco. Shouldn’t they be held accountable, too?■
Jason Alden says:
I live in a state that recently legalized medical marijuana; however, I would like to get independent laboratory analysis of the product(s) before I consume (e.g., THC, CBD content and possible pesticide contamination).