Legal Cannabis packaging concerns

It’s been just over six months since pot was legalized nationwide. There have been many kinks to work out from the get-go, including website issues and delivery delays but there’s also another concern, the packaging it comes in.

Legal marijuana can come in black plastic containers that sometimes weigh more than ten times the product inside. In Hamilton, black or dark plastics are non-recyclable as of last year.

“Last year, staff went to council to inform them that the marketplace for black plastic is virtually non-existent at this point. So basically what we pick up from the curb, there’s no home to send it to or sell it to. Joel McMormick, waste collection.

Approximately 300 tonnes of black and dark plastic comes into the recycling facility per year, but it goes right into the garbage.

If you live in Halton or Niagara region though, black plastics are still accepted.

Canadian cannabis brand Tweed announced they had teamed up with Terracycle, to roll out the first nation-wide cannabis packaging recycling program. They claim that they will even pick up your cannabis containers, as long as they’re marked with the signature THC logo.

There are also recycling bins specifically for legal cannabis containers at some pot shops, but there is lack of consistency and not all shops have them.

The Ontario Cannabis Store says health Canada sets the standards for the packaging of all legal pot sold here, and that licensed producers are responsible for finding their own packaging suppliers.

Hamilton city council has directed staff to look closer at options when it comes to recycling legal cannabis containers.