Regina cannabis retailers are asking customers to return their pot packaging to them for recycling.
A federally regulated cannabis container can only hold a certain amount of pot – usually much smaller than the canister.
That container also comes in a separate box, leading to plenty of leftover packaging.
That’s why Regina marijuana shop Wiid Boutique asks for it back to send to a recycling company called Terracycle.
“Their initiative is to recycle the plastic into little plastic pellets that can be molded into plastic benches and playgrounds,” said Caroline Green, a representative of the shop’s owners.
In three months, Wiid has collected 12 boxes full of cannabis packaging to send to Terracycle, a program created alongside cannabis brand Tweed.
“Just doing our part to go green the best we can,” said Brett Lytle, manager of Tweed’s Regina store. “There’s a lot of [packaging] on cannabis and being able to help people in our community to be able to reduce that waste is just something we wanted to be involved in.”
The company doesn’t only take plastic. It will also take tins, lids, bags, and pre-rolled joint packaging.
Although the stores are happy to see so many containers being returned for recycling, they hope for a greener solution in the future like biodegradable packaging to reduce the environmental impact.
“Like hemp plastic or even reusing the stems or stocks of the cannabis plant to make more sustainable packaging,” said Green.
Five months into legalization, Green isn’t aware of any biodegradable containers as packaging is under strict regulations; however she is hopeful the industry will grow towards greener packages in the future.
Based on a report by CTV Regina's Taylor Rattray
