Like any agricultural industry, cannabis generates a fair amount of solid waste. And like other retail industries, cannabis creates packaging materials that end up in landfills. But because of the uniquely strict regulations attached to cannabis, the industry ends up producing far more waste than comparative industries.
Start with the “green waste” that comes from growing operations: cannabis stalks and roots, trimmed materials, along with contaminated, spoiled or damaged plants. Add in the solvents used to make cannabis extracts. Consider the tons of plastic child-resistant packaging needed for those finished cannabis products and for sale-ready cannabis flower.
It adds up. The tonnage is significant.
Several years ago The Stranger, Seattle’s alternative newspaper, reported that Washington state created 1.7 million pounds in cannabis plant waste between 2014 and 2017. Given that Washington’s legal cannabis industry has grown by more than 50% since 2017, the tonnage of solid cannabis waste has likely increased.
