The cannabis industry has a major plastic problem. According to the non-profit Plastic Oceans International, the world produces 300 million tons of plastic every year. Half of that — 150 million tons — is for single-use purposes. While these issues clearly extend far beyond the reaches of the cannabis industry, state packaging regulations have forced many business owners to seek out the cheapest options in order to keep the lights on.
Take, for instance, a standard disposable vaporizer pen. Beyond the materials of the pen itself, California state law requires that the product arrive to the dispensary in child-proof packaging. At that point, it is then purchased, where it is placed into another child-proof bag. That’s a whole lot of plastic for 200 puffs. According to the firm BDS Analytics, sales in California for disposable vape pens nearly doubled from $3.4 million to $6.42 million between January and March of 2018.
That’s a huge amount of plastic being discarded every day in the weed world — and it’s only getting worse.
To read more, click on https://merryjane.com/culture/weeds-waste-problem-the-perils-of-plastic-may-haunt-the-cannabis-industry
