Excessive, wasteful, overkill and harmful. These are just some of the words used to describe cannabis packaging in Canada—and for good reason.

Ever since cannabis legalization last fall, product packaging has been a consistent target of criticism given its environmentally unfriendly overuse of plastic and difficulty to recycle with other plastics.

The same federal government that recently pledged to ban single-use plastics also enforces strict cannabis packaging regulations, which licenced producers (LPs) have argued make it difficult to package their products ecologically.

Here’s a guide to cannabis packaging rules and one company’s proposed solution to help keep containers from ending up in landfills.

Bye, bye plastic baggie?

In Canada, cannabis must be packaged in materials that are a solid, opaque colour and prevent contamination of cannabis. The containers must also be tamper-evident, meaning one can see if someone has opened it before it’s sold, and meet the requirements of child-resistant packaging under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations.

Additionally, containers must bear the Standardized Cannabis Symbol (red and white THC cannabis leaf symbol), prevent contamination, keep cannabis dry and contain no more than the equivalent of 30 g of dried cannabis.

The federal packaging rules are strict and extensive; making sure that containers can be easily recycled seems not to have received the same rigour.

Mark Butler, policy director of Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, says the centre is calling for the federal government to have the statutory power to regulate plastics and to have plastics listed as a toxin in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

André Gagnon, communications advisor at Health Canada, says that licensed cannabis processors are free to design their packaging and labelling as they see fit. “Health Canada welcomes licensed processors to use innovative and environmentally sound packaging approaches, provided the requirements in the regulations are satisfied. To be clear, there is no regulatory requirement under the Cannabis Act that stipulates that plastic must be used by cannabis processors,” Gagnon told The GrowthOp.

How long current packaging lasts “really depends on the type of plastic and what it is exposed to, such as air, water, light or a combination of these elements” Butler says. If deposited in a landfill, however, plastic packaging is unlikely to biodegrade.

“It doesn’t go away, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and enters the food chain. And, ultimately, nobody knows the exact lifespans in the natural environment.”

Are recycling initiatives enough?

Emma Baron, founder of Milkweed, a brand offering contemporary cannabis accessories, points out that recyclable options for cannabis packaging are in their infancy.

For example, the TerraCycle (a company offering free recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers and retailers worldwide) and Tweed Inc. (a cannabis retailer owned by Canopy Growth Corporation) collection plan is currently unavailable in Quebec, Nova Scotia and the territories. The program was not rolled out all at once, but there are plans to expand nationwide, notes a statement from Canopy Growth.

“We’re happy to see that an effort is being made, but we’ll need to see buy-in from a critical mass of LPs (licensed producers) and provincial governments to see a recycling program grow,” Baron contends.

Since not all cannabis containers are recyclable in every municipality, Baron suggests that glass is a better alternative, since it is 100 percent recyclable and preserves product longer than porous plastic.

“Currently, the only thing holding the industry back from using glass is regulations,” Baron says. Cannabis packaging must be opaque and solid in colour, and tinted or coloured glass that allows some light to travel through them.

Rebecca Brown, cannabis marketer and founder of Crowns Consulting, says that beyond recycling programs, cannabis companies should be seeking out and investing in innovative packaging—packaging that is naturally sourced, biodegradable and designed for multi-use.

“We are at a moment in time where the discussion around single-use plastic is at peak levels, so I think the environmental impact should have been a more heavily weighted consideration as the regulations were being made,” Brown says.

Land to brand to land

Seeing the amount of plastic being used to package small amounts of cannabis, Leamington, Ont.-based Competitive Green Technology (CGTech) teamed up with Toronto’s Hansen Packaging to create their Made in Canada, Naturally cannabis jars.

The Compostable Jars brand was launched in July, but the company hopes its containers, made of compostable biopolymers, hemp waste bio-carbon and reinforcement compostable additives, will reduce the plastic waste in the industry.

Selection of cannabis jars offered by Compostable Jars. compostablejars.com

Atul Bali, CEO of CGTech, says the company’s philosophy is predicated on using waste streams of agricultural produce—in this case, cannabis. “There’s a fair amount of waste being generated in the [cannabis] industry in terms of the non-usable (the part of the plant that is not used for cannabis consumption) “part of the plant [called hemp stalk],” Bali says. “So what we do is use that waste, extract the carbon from it and that’s why we say our jars are made out of renewable resources,” he notes.

Luz Elena Valdes, sales and marketing manager at Compostable Jars, claims that the renewably made jars comply with all packaging regulations, are much lighter than current packaging and are designed to be composted rather than recycled. Compostable, as opposed to biodegradable or recyclable, typically means that a product is capable of disintegrating into natural elements in a compost environment, leaving no toxicity in the soil, within 90 days.

“To package about three to seven g of cannabis, existent containers use 70 to 80 g of packaging made from non-renewable resources,” Valdes says. Her company’s product, uses “20 g of biocomposite resins made from renewable resources,” she reports.

Compostable Jars are designed from dried flower, edibles and pre-rolled joints. compostablejars.com

The jars are not yet available; Compostable Jars is currently sending out product samples and starting meet-and-greets with cannabis companies.

Bali says the Ontario-based Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) has certified the company’s resins, meaning they break down and become compost within 84 days. The jars themselves are currently undergoing testing for BPI certification.

When can changes to packaging be expected?

So how long will it take for new alternatives to be introduced and to take hold in Canada’s cannabis industry? Certainly not overnight, since less expensive, heavy, plastic pharmaceutical containers are readily available.

“It’s not a question of whether or not it’s easier to package with plastic, but it’s about the technology,” Bali says. “Because we have this unique technology, we just had to introduce something for the cannabis industry.”

Though consumers may not see compostable packaging options in pot shops just yet, Brown predicts the industry will respond to market pressure and it will do what it needs to do to win loyalty from customers.