CBD OIL

When Cannabis 2.0 launched in Canada with the sale of cannabis edibles, beverages and vape products, Marshall Posner, chief marketing officer for vertically integrated licensed producer Delta 9, said the company wanted to do more to ensure cannabis packaging and waste was being dealt with responsibly.

While packaging for dried flower and other cannabis products can generally be recycled as part of Canada’s Blue Box recycling program, many vape products are designated as special waste and cannot be recycled in the same way, meaning that they often end up in landfills.

“As we’ve seen these products become more prevalent in our stores, we felt we needed to do something in a responsible fashion to help address … where this packaging and cannabis waste is ending up,” Posner told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

This led Delta 9 to partner with Canadian recycling company Emterra Environmental to create a sustainable recycling program for cannabis packaging and disposable vape pens, as well as a landfill diversion program for vape cartridges, to help the Canadian cannabis industry transition to a circular economy.

Emterra Environmental was founded 44 years ago as a Vancouver-based recycling company.

“Unlike some of our industry peers, we don’t see ourselves as a waste disposal company or a landfill operator,” said Paulina Leung, VP of corporate strategy and business development for Emterra Environmental. Her mother started the company, which has since grown to 1,100 employees, 15 recycling plants and over 800 trucks. “Our true core is to be a recycler and to help ensure any kind of material we extract from the earth gets to be used over and over again.”

Emterra Environmental has moved beyond its initial role as a recycling and waste management company, Leung said, and now works directly with companies, such as Delta 9, that want to take responsibility for their products and work to increase sustainability in the marketplace.

“That’s where we have a similar ethos with Delta 9,” Leung said. “We’re both vertically integrated companies in our respective industries, and instead of waiting for government to tell us what to do with cannabis packaging and vape products, we found each other and we created this customer program … to help Delta 9 continue to grow in a sustainable way.”

Delta 9 launched in 2013 as one of Canada’s original LPs, and currently operates eight retail stores across Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in addition to its cultivation operations. The company will open a ninth store next week and aims to open another 11 retail locations by the end of 2021.

“We think of ourselves as a socially responsible company, and we’ve participated in a variety of green initiatives or recycling programs that the industry has started and stopped over the past year and a half,” Posner said. “We were excited about this and it seemed like a good fit for us to restart or relaunch a new program that would ultimately be sustainable for the industry.”

Leung added: “We saw other programs in the industry come and go, and in seeing those programs come and go, we saw that there were opportunities and ways to make our program more effective, more efficient, and also more authentic.”

The first component of the program allows consumers to recycle cannabis packaging similar to Canada’s well-established Blue Box program, while a second component focuses on landfill diversion for disposable vape cartridges and vape pens.

“Of course, landfilling is absolutely the worst,” Leung said. “Things stay in landfills forever—it never decomposes. So, the second option was to recover the energy from the cartridges. That’s what makes our program unique.”

To participate in the recycling program, consumers can simply bring their empty containers and vape products to any Delta 9 retail location and deposit them into boxes labeled “Flower – Recycling” or “Vapes – Landfill Diversion.”

The program accepts cannabis packaging and disposable vape cartridges and vape pens from any licensed producer, regardless of brand. Consumers can simply bring their empty containers and vape products to any Delta 9 retail location and deposit them into boxes labeled “Flower – Recycling” or “Vapes – Landfill Diversion.”

Consumers are asked to wrap the vape cartridges in individual bags before putting them into the box to make it easier for the recycler to sort the cartridges from the pens, which ultimately increases recyclability, Leung said.

The contents of the flower recycling box will be picked up and delivered to ReVital Polymers’ plastics recycling facility in Sarnia, Ontario, where post-consumer plastics are processed into engineered resin products.

The collected vape pens and vape cartridges are processed at Emterra Environmental’s partner electronics recycling facility, where the pens are separated from the cartridges for processing. The battery, plastic and metal are recovered from the vape pens, while the cartridges are handled as special waste and sent to an energy-from-waste facility for processing. All of this happens domestically in Canada, and no waste is shipped abroad.

“When the recycling is full on our end, there’s a bag inside,” Posner said. “We take it, put it in a box and book a pick-up online from Canada Post, and that’s it. It’s a real simple process. I think that’s what I really like about this program. If you look at successful programs, they’re really quite simple. There aren’t all of these steps that you have to adhere to.”

Emterra Environmental and Delta 9 have created educational Q&As to display on their websites and in-store to help both consumers and Delta 9’s retail staff understand the process and why it is important.

In the several days since the program’s launch, online and in-store response has been positive, Posner said.

“Our customers have been asking us for months when we’ll be introducing vape recycling or some kind of a vape program or … recycling program for cannabis packaging,” he said. “I think for a lot of them, they’re like, ‘Oh, good, it’s about time.’”

The long-term success of any diversion program requires the industry to participate, Leung added, and she and Posner hope that other LPs will take notice and join in.

“Delta 9 certainly led this initiative and I really hope they have set the example and other LPs will join because when industry acts as a whole, not only will the program be more cost-effective for everybody, but it will also show government that they don’t need to regulate the industry from a waste management perspective,” Leung said. “Industry is taking responsibility for the end-of-life management of cannabis and vape products and packaging, they’re being proactive, and I think government appreciates that. From a compliance or government affairs perspective and from achieving a cost-effective program, industry working together will result in the best outcome for all the players.”

Creating packaging with circular end-of-life solutions is not a competitive issue, she added, and should instead be something that the entire industry collaboratively addresses.

“As soon as Marshall and I started talking, it was very like-minded,” Leung said. “We saw that the industry is growing very quickly, and sometimes when an industry is growing very quickly, some of the elements of sustainability take a while to catch up. … I hope this is a launching pad for a nationwide program that will be able to manage all the cannabis packaging, as well as the vape pens and the vape cartridges. … I really hope that the industry hears this call to action and works together.”

The partnership between Delta 9 and Emterra Environmental relies on shared expenses, which will ultimately contribute to the long-term viability of the program, Posner said.

“The packaging is as diverse as the types of products that are held in them, and on the spectrum of really recyclable to terrible [and] not recyclable, the packaging will fall anywhere on that spectrum,” Leung said. “What we want to do in this program is to take a look at each brand and each type of packaging available and to be able to give some analysis and recommendations to the LPs to say, ‘This type of packaging is really good—can you transition more of your packaging to this type?’ Then, we’ll also be honest and say, ‘This type of packaging is not good, so can we work together and find some other alternatives?’”

“This was important to our employees, it’s important to our customers, and quite frankly, we think it’s a responsibility of any company,” Posner added. “Whether [it’s] a cannabis company or another that is producing waste and putting waste into the marketplace, [it should] have a solution on the backend or at least contribute to a solution on the backend to help deal with the waste.”

This year, the oldest members of Gen Z turned 23. That means the legal cannabis industry is about to be bombarded with new customers—members of a distinct generation with new tastes and emerging cultural touchstones.

The HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity report was issued in December 2020 by Headquarters, a strategic advisory studio focused on driving growth for businesses and brands entering the California cannabis market, in conjunction with The Statement Group. The report lays out the lifestyle trends and spending power found among Gen Z (and millennial) customers.

Gen Z is defined as anyone born between 1997 and 2012-2015 (depending who you ask). As of January 2020, according to the report, Gen Z spending power clocked in at $143 billion.

So, what does the younger set gravitate toward? The big topics include: hip-hop and R&B, fashion, social influencers and gaming.

READ MORE: Gen Z and Millennials: A New Age of Cannabis Consumers 

“Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers—an often tough-to-reach consumer group—make up a significant share of the cannabis market today,” said Headquarters CEO Daniel Abrahami. “As we head into the holiday season and New Year, these consumers are only expected to take a greater share of the market. … Our hope is that cannabis brands leverage this proprietary data to gain the competitive advantage they’re looking for in this highly competitive space.”

Read the full report here or scroll down for an embedded version. 

With the rise of online ordering and cannabis delivery, it becomes incumbent upon dispensary owners to navigate their marketing messages toward the consumer. Often in 2020 and going forward, this can mean getting out of the traditional retail environment and providing a more immersive message. 

“From a psychographic standpoint, it’s always great to know which cannabis icons like Wiz Khalifa, Seth Rogen or Snoop Dogg resonate with Gen Z and millennial consumers, but those huge names are often not actionable for most budgets,” said The Statement Group Founder Cory Jones. “We dig deeper into the data to uncover everyone that your consumers love—from brands, artists and influencers, who range from 1,000 to 100 million followers. When you know exactly who your audience is interested in, you have a detailed roadmap to develop revenue-driving partnerships, paid media campaigns and social media and native content strategies. It takes the guesswork out of marketing and cuts wasted spends. When you align your brand with your audience’s interests, your engagement skyrockets and you build a deeper emotional connection and loyalty with your consumers that lasts years.”

Alignment is key. It’s not like dispensary owners need to partner with Wiz Khalifa to hone their messaging. Rather, these lifestyle trends might allow for more inventive strategies. Advertising + gaming. Music + customer loyalty programs.

As Gen Z grows up, these interests will only grow more important as a broad suite of intersections with the ever-expanding cannabis industry.

“They’re living their life the way they want to live it,” Jennifer McLaughlin, vice president of merchandising for cannabis operator Calyx Peak Companies, told us earlier in the year. “It’s all about the social interaction for them now—socially interacting with cannabis. Market to the fact they have these rich lifestyles. Market to what they’re doing in their lives.”

HQ Brand Affinity Report: Millennials GenZ Cannabis Consumers by sandydocs on Scribd

 

When Cannabis 2.0 launched in Canada with the sale of cannabis edibles, beverages and vape products, Marshall Posner, chief marketing officer for vertically integrated licensed producer Delta 9, said the company wanted to do more to ensure cannabis packaging and waste was being dealt with responsibly.

While packaging for dried flower and other cannabis products can generally be recycled as part of Canada’s Blue Box recycling program, many vape products are designated as special waste and cannot be recycled in the same way, meaning that they often end up in landfills.

“As we’ve seen these products become more prevalent in our stores, we felt we needed to do something in a responsible fashion to help address … where this packaging and cannabis waste is ending up,” Posner told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

This led Delta 9 to partner with Canadian recycling company Emterra Environmental to create a sustainable recycling program for cannabis packaging and disposable vape pens, as well as a landfill diversion program for vape cartridges, to help the Canadian cannabis industry transition to a circular economy.

Emterra Environmental was founded 44 years ago as a Vancouver-based recycling company.

“Unlike some of our industry peers, we don’t see ourselves as a waste disposal company or a landfill operator,” said Paulina Leung, VP of corporate strategy and business development for Emterra Environmental. Her mother started the company, which has since grown to 1,100 employees, 15 recycling plants and over 800 trucks. “Our true core is to be a recycler and to help ensure any kind of material we extract from the earth gets to be used over and over again.”

Emterra Environmental has moved beyond its initial role as a recycling and waste management company, Leung said, and now works directly with companies, such as Delta 9, that want to take responsibility for their products and work to increase sustainability in the marketplace.

“That’s where we have a similar ethos with Delta 9,” Leung said. “We’re both vertically integrated companies in our respective industries, and instead of waiting for government to tell us what to do with cannabis packaging and vape products, we found each other and we created this customer program … to help Delta 9 continue to grow in a sustainable way.”

Delta 9 launched in 2013 as one of Canada’s original LPs, and currently operates eight retail stores across Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in addition to its cultivation operations. The company will open a ninth store next week and aims to open another 11 retail locations by the end of 2021.

“We think of ourselves as a socially responsible company, and we’ve participated in a variety of green initiatives or recycling programs that the industry has started and stopped over the past year and a half,” Posner said. “We were excited about this and it seemed like a good fit for us to restart or relaunch a new program that would ultimately be sustainable for the industry.”

Leung added: “We saw other programs in the industry come and go, and in seeing those programs come and go, we saw that there were opportunities and ways to make our program more effective, more efficient, and also more authentic.”

The first component of the program allows consumers to recycle cannabis packaging similar to Canada’s well-established Blue Box program, while a second component focuses on landfill diversion for disposable vape cartridges and vape pens.

“Of course, landfilling is absolutely the worst,” Leung said. “Things stay in landfills forever—it never decomposes. So, the second option was to recover the energy from the cartridges. That’s what makes our program unique.”

To participate in the recycling program, consumers can simply bring their empty containers and vape products to any Delta 9 retail location and deposit them into boxes labeled “Flower – Recycling” or “Vapes – Landfill Diversion.”

The program accepts cannabis packaging and disposable vape cartridges and vape pens from any licensed producer, regardless of brand. Consumers can simply bring their empty containers and vape products to any Delta 9 retail location and deposit them into boxes labeled “Flower – Recycling” or “Vapes – Landfill Diversion.”

Consumers are asked to wrap the vape cartridges in individual bags before putting them into the box to make it easier for the recycler to sort the cartridges from the pens, which ultimately increases recyclability, Leung said.

The contents of the flower recycling box will be picked up and delivered to ReVital Polymers’ plastics recycling facility in Sarnia, Ontario, where post-consumer plastics are processed into engineered resin products.

The collected vape pens and vape cartridges are processed at Emterra Environmental’s partner electronics recycling facility, where the pens are separated from the cartridges for processing. The battery, plastic and metal are recovered from the vape pens, while the cartridges are handled as special waste and sent to an energy-from-waste facility for processing. All of this happens domestically in Canada, and no waste is shipped abroad.

“When the recycling is full on our end, there’s a bag inside,” Posner said. “We take it, put it in a box and book a pick-up online from Canada Post, and that’s it. It’s a real simple process. I think that’s what I really like about this program. If you look at successful programs, they’re really quite simple. There aren’t all of these steps that you have to adhere to.”

Emterra Environmental and Delta 9 have created educational Q&As to display on their websites and in-store to help both consumers and Delta 9’s retail staff understand the process and why it is important.

In the several days since the program’s launch, online and in-store response has been positive, Posner said.

“Our customers have been asking us for months when we’ll be introducing vape recycling or some kind of a vape program or … recycling program for cannabis packaging,” he said. “I think for a lot of them, they’re like, ‘Oh, good, it’s about time.’”

The long-term success of any diversion program requires the industry to participate, Leung added, and she and Posner hope that other LPs will take notice and join in.

“Delta 9 certainly led this initiative and I really hope they have set the example and other LPs will join because when industry acts as a whole, not only will the program be more cost-effective for everybody, but it will also show government that they don’t need to regulate the industry from a waste management perspective,” Leung said. “Industry is taking responsibility for the end-of-life management of cannabis and vape products and packaging, they’re being proactive, and I think government appreciates that. From a compliance or government affairs perspective and from achieving a cost-effective program, industry working together will result in the best outcome for all the players.”

Creating packaging with circular end-of-life solutions is not a competitive issue, she added, and should instead be something that the entire industry collaboratively addresses.

“As soon as Marshall and I started talking, it was very like-minded,” Leung said. “We saw that the industry is growing very quickly, and sometimes when an industry is growing very quickly, some of the elements of sustainability take a while to catch up. … I hope this is a launching pad for a nationwide program that will be able to manage all the cannabis packaging, as well as the vape pens and the vape cartridges. … I really hope that the industry hears this call to action and works together.”

The partnership between Delta 9 and Emterra Environmental relies on shared expenses, which will ultimately contribute to the long-term viability of the program, Posner said.

“The packaging is as diverse as the types of products that are held in them, and on the spectrum of really recyclable to terrible [and] not recyclable, the packaging will fall anywhere on that spectrum,” Leung said. “What we want to do in this program is to take a look at each brand and each type of packaging available and to be able to give some analysis and recommendations to the LPs to say, ‘This type of packaging is really good—can you transition more of your packaging to this type?’ Then, we’ll also be honest and say, ‘This type of packaging is not good, so can we work together and find some other alternatives?’”

“This was important to our employees, it’s important to our customers, and quite frankly, we think it’s a responsibility of any company,” Posner added. “Whether [it’s] a cannabis company or another that is producing waste and putting waste into the marketplace, [it should] have a solution on the backend or at least contribute to a solution on the backend to help deal with the waste.”

December 10, 2020 – Walker, Michigan – December 10, 2020 – PRESS RELEASE – Pipp Horticulture (a division of Pipp Mobile Storage Systems, Inc., backed by Novacap), a provider of space-saving, multi-level mobile cultivation systems, has announced that it has acquired Vertical Air Solutions LLC. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., VAS is a leader in providing air circulation systems and related products to the global indoor vertical farming industry.

"We are excited to welcome the entire VAS team, led by innovative entrepreneurs and powered by a dedicated group of employees, to the Pipp family of companies," said Craig Umans, president and CEO, Pipp. "We have gotten to know the VAS team well in recent years, as they have been an integral part of our horticulture business, and their products are the ideal addition to our Mobile Vertical Grow Rack Systems. We look forward to integrating their leading technology into our continually expanding product offering to better serve the fast-growing vertical indoor farming industry."

“In 2017, when our ‘first of its kind’ airflow technology couldn’t fit into standard mobile racking configurations, Pipp Horticulture was prepared and willing to customize their system in order to accept ours. Our companies have since built a strong relationship and we’re excited to make the partnership official.” said James Cunningham, founder of VAS. “We look forward to continuing our focus on innovation, while providing top tier solutions for the vertical farming industry. Pipp’s 40 years of experience in equipment sales and manufacturing is exactly the support VAS needs in order to facilitate our growth into new markets.”

“The acquisition of VAS continues our mission of expanding our product offering to better serve the vertical farming industry. Pipp Horticulture brings a combination of the most knowledgeable and experienced Team along with the best products, competitive pricing and best in class customer service” said Umans.

This year, the oldest members of Gen Z turned 23. That means the legal cannabis industry is about to be bombarded with new customers—members of a distinct generation with new tastes and emerging cultural touchstones.

The HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity report was issued in December 2020 by Headquarters, a strategic advisory studio focused on driving growth for businesses and brands entering the California cannabis market, in conjunction with The Statement Group. The report lays out the lifestyle trends and spending power found among Gen Z (and millennial) customers.

Gen Z is defined as anyone born between 1997 and 2012-2015 (depending who you ask). As of January 2020, according to the report, Gen Z spending power clocked in at $143 billion.

So, what does the younger set gravitate toward? The big topics include: hip-hop and R&B, fashion, social influencers and gaming.

READ MORE: Gen Z and Millennials: A New Age of Cannabis Consumers 

“Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers—an often tough-to-reach consumer group—make up a significant share of the cannabis market today,” said Headquarters CEO Daniel Abrahami. “As we head into the holiday season and New Year, these consumers are only expected to take a greater share of the market. … Our hope is that cannabis brands leverage this proprietary data to gain the competitive advantage they’re looking for in this highly competitive space.”

Read the full report here or scroll down for an embedded version. 

With the rise of online ordering and cannabis delivery, it becomes incumbent upon dispensary owners to navigate their marketing messages toward the consumer. Often in 2020 and going forward, this can mean getting out of the traditional retail environment and providing a more immersive message. 

“From a psychographic standpoint, it’s always great to know which cannabis icons like Wiz Khalifa, Seth Rogen or Snoop Dogg resonate with Gen Z and millennial consumers, but those huge names are often not actionable for most budgets,” said The Statement Group Founder Cory Jones. “We dig deeper into the data to uncover everyone that your consumers love—from brands, artists and influencers, who range from 1,000 to 100 million followers. When you know exactly who your audience is interested in, you have a detailed roadmap to develop revenue-driving partnerships, paid media campaigns and social media and native content strategies. It takes the guesswork out of marketing and cuts wasted spends. When you align your brand with your audience’s interests, your engagement skyrockets and you build a deeper emotional connection and loyalty with your consumers that lasts years.”

Alignment is key. It’s not like dispensary owners need to partner with Wiz Khalifa to hone their messaging. Rather, these lifestyle trends might allow for more inventive strategies. Advertising + gaming. Music + customer loyalty programs.

As Gen Z grows up, these interests will only grow more important as a broad suite of intersections with the ever-expanding cannabis industry.

“They’re living their life the way they want to live it,” Jennifer McLaughlin, vice president of merchandising for cannabis operator Calyx Peak Companies, told us earlier in the year. “It’s all about the social interaction for them now—socially interacting with cannabis. Market to the fact they have these rich lifestyles. Market to what they’re doing in their lives.”

HQ Brand Affinity Report: Millennials GenZ Cannabis Consumers by sandydocs on Scribd

 

When Cannabis 2.0 launched in Canada with the sale of cannabis edibles, beverages and vape products, Marshall Posner, chief marketing officer for vertically integrated licensed producer Delta 9, said the company wanted to do more to ensure cannabis packaging and waste was being dealt with responsibly.

While packaging for dried flower and other cannabis products can generally be recycled as part of Canada’s Blue Box recycling program, many vape products are designated as special waste and cannot be recycled in the same way, meaning that they often end up in landfills.

“As we’ve seen these products become more prevalent in our stores, we felt we needed to do something in a responsible fashion to help address … where this packaging and cannabis waste is ending up,” Posner told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

This led Delta 9 to partner with Canadian recycling company Emterra Environmental to create a sustainable recycling program for cannabis packaging and disposable vape pens, as well as a landfill diversion program for vape cartridges, to help the Canadian cannabis industry transition to a circular economy.

Emterra Environmental was founded 44 years ago as a Vancouver-based recycling company.

“Unlike some of our industry peers, we don’t see ourselves as a waste disposal company or a landfill operator,” said Paulina Leung, VP of corporate strategy and business development for Emterra Environmental. Her mother started the company, which has since grown to 1,100 employees, 15 recycling plants and over 800 trucks. “Our true core is to be a recycler and to help ensure any kind of material we extract from the earth gets to be used over and over again.”

Emterra Environmental has moved beyond its initial role as a recycling and waste management company, Leung said, and now works directly with companies, such as Delta 9, that want to take responsibility for their products and work to increase sustainability in the marketplace.

“That’s where we have a similar ethos with Delta 9,” Leung said. “We’re both vertically integrated companies in our respective industries, and instead of waiting for government to tell us what to do with cannabis packaging and vape products, we found each other and we created this customer program … to help Delta 9 continue to grow in a sustainable way.”

Delta 9 launched in 2013 as one of Canada’s original LPs, and currently operates eight retail stores across Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in addition to its cultivation operations. The company will open a ninth store next week and aims to open another 11 retail locations by the end of 2021.

“We think of ourselves as a socially responsible company, and we’ve participated in a variety of green initiatives or recycling programs that the industry has started and stopped over the past year and a half,” Posner said. “We were excited about this and it seemed like a good fit for us to restart or relaunch a new program that would ultimately be sustainable for the industry.”

Leung added: “We saw other programs in the industry come and go, and in seeing those programs come and go, we saw that there were opportunities and ways to make our program more effective, more efficient, and also more authentic.”

The first component of the program allows consumers to recycle cannabis packaging similar to Canada’s well-established Blue Box program, while a second component focuses on landfill diversion for disposable vape cartridges and vape pens.

“Of course, landfilling is absolutely the worst,” Leung said. “Things stay in landfills forever—it never decomposes. So, the second option was to recover the energy from the cartridges. That’s what makes our program unique.”

The program accepts cannabis packaging and disposable vape cartridges and vape pens from any licensed producer, regardless of brand. Consumers can simply bring their empty containers and vape products to any Delta 9 retail location and deposit them into boxes labeled “Flower – Recycling” or “Vapes – Landfill Diversion.”

Consumers are asked to wrap the vape cartridges in individual bags before putting them into the box to make it easier for the recycler to sort the cartridges from the pens, which ultimately increases recyclability, Leung said.

The contents of the flower recycling box will be picked up and delivered to ReVital Polymers’ plastics recycling facility in Sarnia, Ontario, where post-consumer plastics are processed into engineered resin products.

The collected vape pens and vape cartridges are processed at Emterra Environmental’s partner electronics recycling facility, where the pens are separated from the cartridges for processing. The battery, plastic and metal are recovered from the vape pens, while the cartridges are handled as special waste and sent to an energy-from-waste facility for processing. All of this happens domestically in Canada, and no waste is shipped abroad.

“When the recycling is full on our end, there’s a bag inside,” Posner said. “We take it, put it in a box and book a pick-up online from Canada Post, and that’s it. It’s a real simple process. I think that’s what I really like about this program. If you look at successful programs, they’re really quite simple. There aren’t all of these steps that you have to adhere to.”

Emterra Environmental and Delta 9 have created educational Q&As to display on their websites and in-store to help both consumers and Delta 9’s retail staff understand the process and why it is important.

In the several days since the program’s launch, online and in-store response has been positive, Posner said.

“Our customers have been asking us for months when we’ll be introducing vape recycling or some kind of a vape program or … recycling program for cannabis packaging,” he said. “I think for a lot of them, they’re like, ‘Oh, good, it’s about time.’”

The long-term success of any diversion program requires the industry to participate, Leung added, and she and Posner hope that other LPs will take notice and join in.

“Delta 9 certainly led this initiative and I really hope they have set the example and other LPs will join because when industry acts as a whole, not only will the program be more cost-effective for everybody, but it will also show government that they don’t need to regulate the industry from a waste management perspective,” Leung said. “Industry is taking responsibility for the end-of-life management of cannabis and vape products and packaging, they’re being proactive, and I think government appreciates that. From a compliance or government affairs perspective and from achieving a cost-effective program, industry working together will result in the best outcome for all the players.”

Creating packaging with circular end-of-life solutions is not a competitive issue, she added, and should instead be something that the entire industry collaboratively addresses.

“As soon as Marshall and I started talking, it was very like-minded,” Leung said. “We saw that the industry is growing very quickly, and sometimes when an industry is growing very quickly, some of the elements of sustainability take a while to catch up. … I hope this is a launching pad for a nationwide program that will be able to manage all the cannabis packaging, as well as the vape pens and the vape cartridges. … I really hope that the industry hears this call to action and works together.”

The partnership between Delta 9 and Emterra Environmental relies on shared expenses, which will ultimately contribute to the long-term viability of the program, Posner said.

“The packaging is as diverse as the types of products that are held in them, and on the spectrum of really recyclable to terrible [and] not recyclable, the packaging will fall anywhere on that spectrum,” Leung said. “What we want to do in this program is to take a look at each brand and each type of packaging available and to be able to give some analysis and recommendations to the LPs to say, ‘This type of packaging is really good—can you transition more of your packaging to this type?’ Then, we’ll also be honest and say, ‘This type of packaging is not good, so can we work together and find some other alternatives?’”

“This was important to our employees, it’s important to our customers, and quite frankly, we think it’s a responsibility of any company,” Posner added. “Whether [it’s] a cannabis company or another that is producing waste and putting waste into the marketplace, [it should] have a solution on the backend or at least contribute to a solution on the backend to help deal with the waste.”

2020 was a big year for the cannabis industry as four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—legalized adult-use in the general election, potentially setting the stage for more states to legalize in 2021. Voters also ushered in medical cannabis in South Dakota, marking the first-time both adult-use and medical legalization were approved in the same election, and medical cannabis in Mississippi also passed. 

And, there is evidence that this momentum will influence more states to come online in 2021. Here, we look at the states most likely to legalize as we head into the New Year.

Connecticut

Gov. Ned Lamont renewed his legalization push at the beginning of 2020, with the introduction of a bill that would have legalized adult-use for Connecticuters 21 and older, tested for impaired drivers, and supported racial and ethnic minorities in their participation in the market.

While that legislation, S.B. 16, ultimately stalled in committee, Lamont has said he will try again in 2021, according to a Patch.com report, especially since nearby New Jersey has legalized.

State House Democrats have vowed to vote on legalization in 2021, according to NBC Connecticut, in part because of the growing number of nearby states with regulated adult-use markets, as well as a projected state budget deficit heading into next year.

New Mexico

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for a renewed push for adult-use legalization in 2020 and even added the issue to the state’s legislative agenda. Lawmakers took notice and introduced legislation to get the job done, and the Senate Public Affairs Committee even approved the bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately voted in February to table the legislation.

As 2020 came to a close, the Albuquerque Journal reported that proponents of legalization were hopeful that 2021 could be their year, as several influential legislative opponents were defeated in the general election, improving a bill’s chances of making it through the Senate.

Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) has announced plans to introduce a new legalization proposal during New Mexico’s 60-day legislative session, which kicks off in January, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also went into 2020 with plans for cannabis legalization, and included an adult-use proposal in his state budget this past January. Before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., Cuomo announced plans to tour legal cannabis states as part of his legalization push to learn which aspects of their cannabis programs have worked and which have not.

As the pandemic raged on, though, Cuomo cut his legalization proposal from the budget, saying that there was “too much” to accomplish and “too little time” ahead of an April 1 deadline to approve the sprawling budget.

An October interview between Axel Bernabe, one of Cuomo’s advisers, and David Culver, an executive with Canopy Growth, revealed that Cuomo is already renewing his legalization push heading into 2021, with plans to again include adult-use legalization in New York’s 2021-2022 budget.

Pennsylvania

As the state continues to grapple with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf has called for adult-use cannabis legalization to help boost Pennsylvania’s economy. Wolf’s legalization push has been met with mixed reactions from industry stakeholders, however, with some skeptical about a legalization bill clearing the Republican-controlled legislature.

Still, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has also expressed support for adult-use legalization to help combat the state’s budget deficit, and some of Pennsylvania’s state senators have also thrown their support behind legalization to lessen the blow of the economic shortfall.

Rhode Island

Like Cuomo, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo included an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal in her state budget plan at the start of 2020, but Senate leadership opposed the plan, which was ultimately tabled.

During the November Senate Democratic caucus, however, lawmakers seemed more receptive to legalization to counteract the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now considering Raimondo’s proposal as they work on the budget heading into 2021.

Texas

State lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand Texas’ medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 session that kicks off in January. Among the legislation is Rep. Roland Gutierrez’s S.B. 140, which would legalize adult-use and which Gutierrez says would create 30,000 new jobs and more than $3 billion in revenue.

Virginia

Gov. Ralph Northam signed a cannabis decriminalization bill into law this past spring, effectively reclassifying the possession of one ounce of cannabis or less to a civil penalty punishable by a fine of up to $25. Now, heading into the New Year, Northam has announced plans to introduce an adult-use legalization bill when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

In addition, the Virginia Marijuana Legalization Work Group, which was created by the decriminalization measure to study adult-use legalization and made up of community leaders, healthcare professionals, policy experts and members of Northam’s administration, released its recommendations Nov. 30. In a roughly 400-page report, the work group outlined guidelines for taxation, banking, criminal justice, licensing, regulation and consumer safety.

Separately, the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission has released its own study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state, and has found that legalization could generate more than $300 million in annual tax revenues by the fifth year of the program, reduce cannabis-related arrests by 84% when combined with decriminalization, and create more than 11,000 jobs in Virginia.

Lawmakers in the House of Delegates have said that legislation to legalize cannabis would likely pass that chamber, according to The Virginia Mercury, while Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw has said that the issue would have “slightly better than 50-50 odds” in that chamber.

2020 was a big year for the cannabis industry as four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—legalized adult-use in the general election, potentially setting the stage for more states to legalize in 2021. Voters also ushered in medical cannabis in South Dakota, marking the first-time both adult-use and medical legalization were approved in the same election, and medical cannabis in Mississippi also passed. 

And, there is evidence that this momentum will influence more states to come online in 2021. Here, we look at the states most likely to legalize as we head into the New Year.

Connecticut

Gov. Ned Lamont renewed his legalization push at the beginning of 2020, with the introduction of a bill that would have legalized adult-use for Connecticuters 21 and older, tested for impaired drivers, and supported racial and ethnic minorities in their participation in the market.

While that legislation, S.B. 16, ultimately stalled in committee, Lamont has said he will try again in 2021, according to a Patch.com report, especially since nearby New Jersey has legalized.

State House Democrats have vowed to vote on legalization in 2021, according to NBC Connecticut, in part because of the growing number of nearby states with regulated adult-use markets, as well as a projected state budget deficit heading into next year.

New Mexico

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for a renewed push for adult-use legalization in 2020 and even added the issue to the state’s legislative agenda. Lawmakers took notice and introduced legislation to get the job done, and the Senate Public Affairs Committee even approved the bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately voted in February to table the legislation.

As 2020 came to a close, the Albuquerque Journal reported that proponents of legalization were hopeful that 2021 could be their year, as several influential legislative opponents were defeated in the general election, improving a bill’s chances of making it through the Senate.

Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) has announced plans to introduce a new legalization proposal during New Mexico’s 60-day legislative session, which kicks off in January, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also went into 2020 with plans for cannabis legalization, and included an adult-use proposal in his state budget this past January. Before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., Cuomo announced plans to tour legal cannabis states as part of his legalization push to learn which aspects of their cannabis programs have worked and which have not.

As the pandemic raged on, though, Cuomo cut his legalization proposal from the budget, saying that there was “too much” to accomplish and “too little time” ahead of an April 1 deadline to approve the sprawling budget.

An October interview between Axel Bernabe, one of Cuomo’s advisers, and David Culver, an executive with Canopy Growth, revealed that Cuomo is already renewing his legalization push heading into 2021, with plans to again include adult-use legalization in New York’s 2021-2022 budget.

Pennsylvania

As the state continues to grapple with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf has called for adult-use cannabis legalization to help boost Pennsylvania’s economy. Wolf’s legalization push has been met with mixed reactions from industry stakeholders, however, with some skeptical about a legalization bill clearing the Republican-controlled legislature.

Still, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has also expressed support for adult-use legalization to help combat the state’s budget deficit, and some of Pennsylvania’s state senators have also thrown their support behind legalization to lessen the blow of the economic shortfall.

Rhode Island

Like Cuomo, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo included an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal in her state budget plan at the start of 2020, but Senate leadership opposed the plan, which was ultimately tabled.

During the November Senate Democratic caucus, however, lawmakers seemed more receptive to legalization to counteract the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now considering Raimondo’s proposal as they work on the budget heading into 2021.

Texas

State lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand Texas’ medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 session that kicks off in January. Among the legislation is Rep. Roland Gutierrez’s S.B. 140, which would legalize adult-use and which Gutierrez says would create 30,000 new jobs and more than $3 billion in revenue.

Virginia

Gov. Ralph Northam signed a cannabis decriminalization bill into law this past spring, effectively reclassifying the possession of one ounce of cannabis or less to a civil penalty punishable by a fine of up to $25. Now, heading into the New Year, Northam has announced plans to introduce an adult-use legalization bill when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

In addition, the Virginia Marijuana Legalization Work Group, which was created by the decriminalization measure to study adult-use legalization and made up of community leaders, healthcare professionals, policy experts and members of Northam’s administration, released its recommendations Nov. 30. In a roughly 400-page report, the work group outlined guidelines for taxation, banking, criminal justice, licensing, regulation and consumer safety.

Separately, the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission has released its own study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state, and has found that legalization could generate more than $300 million in annual tax revenues by the fifth year of the program, reduce cannabis-related arrests by 84% when combined with decriminalization, and create more than 11,000 jobs in Virginia.

Lawmakers in the House of Delegates have said that legislation to legalize cannabis would likely pass that chamber, according to The Virginia Mercury, while Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw has said that the issue would have “slightly better than 50-50 odds” in that chamber.

2020 was a big year for the cannabis industry as four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota—legalized adult-use in the general election, potentially setting the stage for more states to legalize in 2021. Voters also ushered in medical cannabis in South Dakota, marking the first-time both adult-use and medical legalization were approved in the same election, and medical cannabis in Mississippi also passed. 

And, there is evidence that this momentum will influence more states to come online in 2021. Here, we look at the states most likely to legalize as we head into the New Year.

Connecticut

Gov. Ned Lamont renewed his legalization push at the beginning of 2020, with the introduction of a bill that would have legalized adult-use for Connecticuters 21 and older, tested for impaired drivers, and supported racial and ethnic minorities in their participation in the market.

While that legislation, S.B. 16, ultimately stalled in committee, Lamont has said he will try again in 2021, according to a Patch.com report, especially since nearby New Jersey has legalized.

State House Democrats have vowed to vote on legalization in 2021, according to NBC Connecticut, in part because of the growing number of nearby states with regulated adult-use markets, as well as a projected state budget deficit heading into next year.

New Mexico

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for a renewed push for adult-use legalization in 2020 and even added the issue to the state’s legislative agenda. Lawmakers took notice and introduced legislation to get the job done, and the Senate Public Affairs Committee even approved the bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately voted in February to table the legislation.

As 2020 came to a close, the Albuquerque Journal reported that proponents of legalization were hopeful that 2021 could be their year, as several influential legislative opponents were defeated in the general election, improving a bill’s chances of making it through the Senate.

Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) has announced plans to introduce a new legalization proposal during New Mexico’s 60-day legislative session, which kicks off in January, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also went into 2020 with plans for cannabis legalization, and included an adult-use proposal in his state budget this past January. Before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., Cuomo announced plans to tour legal cannabis states as part of his legalization push to learn which aspects of their cannabis programs have worked and which have not.

As the pandemic raged on, though, Cuomo cut his legalization proposal from the budget, saying that there was “too much” to accomplish and “too little time” ahead of an April 1 deadline to approve the sprawling budget.

An October interview between Axel Bernabe, one of Cuomo’s advisers, and David Culver, an executive with Canopy Growth, revealed that Cuomo is already renewing his legalization push heading into 2021, with plans to again include adult-use legalization in New York’s 2021-2022 budget.

Pennsylvania

As the state continues to grapple with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf has called for adult-use cannabis legalization to help boost Pennsylvania’s economy. Wolf’s legalization push has been met with mixed reactions from industry stakeholders, however, with some skeptical about a legalization bill clearing the Republican-controlled legislature.

Still, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has also expressed support for adult-use legalization to help combat the state’s budget deficit, and some of Pennsylvania’s state senators have also thrown their support behind legalization to lessen the blow of the economic shortfall.

Rhode Island

Like Cuomo, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo included an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal in her state budget plan at the start of 2020, but Senate leadership opposed the plan, which was ultimately tabled.

During the November Senate Democratic caucus, however, lawmakers seemed more receptive to legalization to counteract the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now considering Raimondo’s proposal as they work on the budget heading into 2021.

Texas

State lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand Texas’ medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 session that kicks off in January. Among the legislation is Rep. Roland Gutierrez’s S.B. 140, which would legalize adult-use and which Gutierrez says would create 30,000 new jobs and more than $3 billion in revenue.

Virginia

Gov. Ralph Northam signed a cannabis decriminalization bill into law this past spring, effectively reclassifying the possession of one ounce of cannabis or less to a civil penalty punishable by a fine of up to $25. Now, heading into the New Year, Northam has announced plans to introduce an adult-use legalization bill when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

In addition, the Virginia Marijuana Legalization Work Group, which was created by the decriminalization measure to study adult-use legalization and made up of community leaders, healthcare professionals, policy experts and members of Northam’s administration, released its recommendations Nov. 30. In a roughly 400-page report, the work group outlined guidelines for taxation, banking, criminal justice, licensing, regulation and consumer safety.

Separately, the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission has released its own study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state, and has found that legalization could generate more than $300 million in annual tax revenues by the fifth year of the program, reduce cannabis-related arrests by 84% when combined with decriminalization, and create more than 11,000 jobs in Virginia.

Lawmakers in the House of Delegates have said that legislation to legalize cannabis would likely pass that chamber, according to The Virginia Mercury, while Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw has said that the issue would have “slightly better than 50-50 odds” in that chamber.