Recycling Program for Dispensary Packaging

Dispensary
1

Dear @DispensaryOwners ,

In the state of Colorado, Pueblo to be more specific, a majority of the flower that is purchased seems to be sold in hard plastic containers. These containers are much akin to medicine bottles, coming in a variety of sizes and shapes. Now that said, it doesn’t seem to matter the amount, 1 gram will get put in the same size bottle as several grams. Sometimes you’ll get a half oz, and that comes in a container that probably could fit a large amount more of a product if you were so inclined.

Over time as a consumer, these bottles start to add up. We actually don’t throw them away in our house, instead I have a box where all plastic bottles go to die. Over the course of less than 1 year, I have a tremendous amount of these plastic bottles from the dispensaries that have piled up (we smoke a lot of pot, mind you.)

That said, we’re just one set of consumers. Multiply this amount of plastic waste by all the consumers purchasing bud from dispensaries and it seems like we’re producing a LOT of waste product that is probably just ending up in the dump.

Curious if there are numbers run on the amount of plastic containers sold/shipped out for packaging and if any programs have ever been implemented by dispensaries to offer consumers to drop off their old packaging for recycling? This seems like it would be an easy enough task (a bin with top hole, let’s not complicate this,) and maybe even create some positive community reaction by recycling out.

What do you think, Growers Network?

2 Likes
2

We here at Smokeys are working very hard to become a zero waste facility.
We do in fact offer recycling for our customers unwanted plastic drams, we
offer points for those that return them. We’ve been working towards making
contacts with a recycling company, wherein we can buy our recycled dreams
back from them after they’ve sanitized them. Thus adding far less trash to
the landfill.

2 Likes
3

Is it as simple as setting up a container for the returns? Are there any considerations that would have to be made considering there may be some potential “product” or residues left in the containers?

And good for you guys, that’s great!

1 Like
4

A good friend of ours just wrote this relevant piece:

2 Likes
5

Is there such thing as a more biodegradable alternative?

2 Likes
6

Hey Jordan, another Smokey’s 420 person here! There’s a new company coming around called Sana Packaging that offers a fully biodegradable, hemp alternative to drams. Still childproof and it’s a unique design. We have placed an order of their pre-roll tubes to see how well they work for our purposes. I believe their website is www.sanapackaging.com

4 Likes