Canadian cannabis company Freedom Cannabis is launching its product line in a recyclable steel container called Nitrotin, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. The packaging will buck the trend of hard-to-recycle plastic containers used by most of the country’s licensed producers.
Troy Dezwart, executive director and co-founder of Freedom, said the packaging has other advantages, including a sealing process that replaces oxygen in the container with liquid nitrogen to help the product remain fresh until its unsealed. Once the seal is broken, the can is closed with a plastic cover that doubles as a child-proofing mechanism – child-proofing is required under the nation’s legalization laws.
Dezwart said the industry has “been hearing nothing but negative energy” about the packaging of cannabis products which, he said, have “a lot of waste.” He said the tins will help the company’s products stand out since federal law limits cannabis branding and packaging.
“It seemed to make a lot of sense. Although we pay a little bit more for this product than you would for some of the conventional (packages), based on what we’ve heard from consumers, and their pushback on some of the waste with packaging, it’s kind of a trifecta for us.” – Dezwart, to the Free Press
In Canada, the tins will be able to go directly into recycling containers instead of being taken to a facility that can handle complex plastics or multiple materials that require extra processing.
Licensed producer 48North Cannabis already uses post-consumer recycled paper packaging for its pre-rolls and Tychon Packaging supplies its 100 percent PET plastic containers to 25 different cannabis producers throughout the state.
Packaging is just one energy-input concern in the cannabis space; in 2016 a report found indoor cannabis grows to be as energy-intensive as data centers. The report suggests that indoor grows use 2,000 watts per square meters, which, EQ Research says, is “50 to 200 times more energy-intense than a typical office building.” Many medical cannabis programs in the U.S. require indoor cultivation.
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