Environmentally responsible cannabis packaging is available. Keep cannabis green and eliminate plastics from our oceans.
Plastics are everywhere. Tragically in places they should not be. Our oceans are drowning in plastic, choking marine life and clogging natural waterways throughout our world. Recent studies have detected plastics in drinking water, the fish we eat and even as far down the food chain as sea salt. The biggest culprits are single use plastics like the ubiquitous water bottle. What is going to happen when you add single use plastic cannabis packaging to the mix?
According to BDS Analytics, last year the state of Washington sold 11 million pre-rolled joints. In the first quarter of 2016, Oregon sold 1.2 million pre-rolls and California, the biggest market of all, does not have data available at this writing. We can all assume that the California sales volume will surpass all of the other legal medicinal and recreational states.
Where will all of this plastic go? In a study by Columbia University, it was found that Americans discard about 33.6 million tons of plastic annually, yet only 6.5 % actually gets recycled. According to NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), it will take approximately 450 years for a single water bottle to break down. Imagine what will happen with all of the plastic flower drams, mylar bags and doob-tubes!
What’s the answer? Ocean safe, truly biodegradable and environmentally gentle cannabis packaging. Viable alternatives and cost competitive options can be made from a bevy of sustainable and green materials. Post consumer waste, such as recycled corrugated containers and old newspapers can be molded into custom shapes and sizes. Sugarcane, bamboo and other natural and renewable grasses and plants can also be formed into cannabis flower containers, vape cartridge holders and many other packaging solutions to the plastic scourge. Recycled paperboard, hemp bioplastics and pulp are examples of such materials that will reflect a cannabis company’s ethos as well as demonstrating efforts to keep plastics out of our landfills and oceans.
Nowadays, with all of the newly formed regulations for pesticide free, clean-green cannabis, shouldn’t the package that this truly organic medicine be sold in be held to some environmental standards as well? Packaging cannabis in plastics is hypocritical. Especially since in many California counties plastic bags have been banned for years. Plastic drinking straws are being banned finally in many localities and regional rules requiring take-out food containers to be sustainable is commonplace.
Now is the time when this industry is forming and evolving to create change and make a difference. Now is the time to think outside the “plastic-box” for packaging needs and to think of our planet. Keep Cannabis Green!
Sources: What Happens To All That Plastic
Pre Rolls Rissing Falling
