Any cannabis business owner will tell you that the costs of energy, water, nutrients, and labor are enormous. In addition to the input expenses, the most evident output cost is the wasteful nature of Marijuana Packaging.
Unfortunately, as anyone who has seen the increasing amount of cannabis-related garbage littering city streets can attest, Marijuana Packaging has swiftly become the industry's headache du jour due to regulatory difficulties linked to kid safety.
While the compliance requirements imposed by states due to child safety concerns are part of the problem, another issue is the growing list of informational requirements, which includes chemicals used during production, the batch from which it came, the harvest date, various warnings, the cannabinoid profile, and so on.
Because of the voluminous amount of information that must be provided to customers, products require additional packaging simply to have enough space to print all of the statements, disclaimers, and other information that is required of cannabis products.
Certainly, more information is better from the standpoint of those in charge of regulating this industry.
Greater information, on the other hand, necessitates more room. The irony is that other, considerably more harmful products, such as cigarettes and booze, for example, come with significantly less messaging. It's difficult to picture cigarette producers being obliged to divulge every chemical used in their goods from the time the tobacco was produced in the fields to the time the product was ready for sale.
Cigarettes contain about 500 chemical compounds, including formaldehyde, benzene, nicotine, and arsenic. These ingredients aren't labeled on cigarette packs, but they should be.
To be sure, the concentrated character of tobacco companies, compared to the dispersed nature of cannabis producers, makes it simpler for cigarette companies to influence pesticide regulation in ways that the cannabis business cannot.
Given that tobacco corporations are targeting the cannabis market, it will be interesting to see how compliance issues are addressed as the industry develops over the next 5-10 years under more extensive federal control.
Another component of the Marijuana Packaging issue is the demand for the ideal "unboxing" experience by both producers and consumers.
Some of the high-end product lines recently wowed me with their quality packaging and homage to the unwrapping experience which comes with a portfolio of packaging that takes a long time to wade through, and most of which is not recyclable.
Unlike an iPhone, which most people don't buy more than once per year or two, cannabis items are frequently purchased, perhaps once a week (or more), necessitating action to solve this rapidly growing problem.
When we look at the most frequent sizes of pre-packaged items purchased at the retail level (flower and concentrate), which range from one gram to a quarter ounce, we can see that the amount of packing that goes into providing these increments is often bigger by orders of magnitude.
When it comes to flowers, the overall volume of packaging is usually 2-4 times that of the cannabis product contained within. When it comes to concentrations, there are a few options. The entire volume of packaging might be up to 20 times that of the total volume.
Because of the heterogeneous nature of the packaging, only a small fraction of it is recyclable, and what is recyclable is usually thrown away or sorted out by recyclers.
Almost every dispensary also requires the use of an "exit-bag," which adds a further layer of child-safety precaution.
Exit-bags are made up of a variety of materials, making them ineligible for recycling due to their mixed nature. While they may be utilized with a future purchase, they are frequently discarded as soon as the buyer returns home.
They don't provide any more child safety, and they're merely increasing the expense to the consumer and the environment.
Reusing old containers with fresh purchases is one idea that has been explored to assist solve the wasteful nature of Marijuana Packaging. Certain businesses advocate this approach, which, while potentially beneficial, has some drawbacks.
Cross-contamination is one of the most serious issues. If a previous product was contaminated (mold, mildew, a chemical pesticide, etc. ), the new product that was placed in the old container would be contaminated as well. Some fully vertically integrated companies have offered to accept back containers at their retail stores and provide customers a discount if they do so so that the containers can be sanitized or recycled.
However, while these are outlier examples in the market, they could prove to be a victory if the client and the manufacturer work together to see something like this take hold.
However, some states have rules that require products to be pre-packaged, making reusing containers impossible.
Many states now have legislation requiring child-resistant packaging to meet federal guidelines outlined in 16 CFR 1700. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is a non-profit organization that creates and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a variety of materials, products, systems, and services.
ASTM sets the standards for child-resistant packaging, and recycling packaging implies it will inevitably fall short of those standards; this is yet the additional issue with attempting to recycle your old container.
The cannabis industry is beginning to recognize the issue of packaging, and several firms are spearheading a wave of new product launches, including biodegradable, recyclable, and hemp-based packaging, all of which are exciting inventions that could help ease some of this rising concern.
Given the fibrous structure of the cannabis plant, it would be great if one of these huge manufacturers utilized their green waste to produce new packaging materials that were better for the products and the environment.
