Even a cursory review of cannabis reveals that the market has been notoriously wasteful, polluting the environment with chemical fertilizers, misused pesticides, contaminated plants, and—perhaps most problematically—thoughtlessly excessive packaging.

The industry is in dire need of sustainable practices, and the easiest way to start an impactful new trend is from the outside in: a.k.a., adjusting how you’re parceling your products.

Cannabis has progressed: It’s time for its packaging to do the same
By the time legalization began sweeping the nation, the industry already had several decades of experience operating underground. With that discretion came a lot of built-in habits around not attracting attention, and for packaging, the focus was solely on not looking like a cannabis product.

An overabundance of plastic isn’t cutting it anymore—not only when it comes to environmental friendliness, but for the integrity of the product itself.
Today, increased legalization grants operators the freedom to expand without the fear of being seen, and as a result, there’s no longer any excuse for wasteful packaging to be the industry’s norm. Glass jars, Ziplocks and an overabundance of plastic isn’t cutting it anymore—not only when it comes to environmental friendliness, but for the integrity of the product itself.

How sustainable storage optimizes curing and shelf life of flower
As for the curing process, used to use airtight buckets, which both took up a lot of room and wasn’t at all effective for maintaining cannabis’s ideal humidity levels. Since switched to passive atmospheric packaging, which utilizes increasingly popular technology to keep humidity—and sustainability—in mind. The buckets weren’t letting any moisture out. On top of that, you can imagine how much room 165 five-gallon buckets takes up in a grow space.

The same goes for long-term storage. With humidity-controlled bags, operators can rest assured that their product will maintain its efficacy, because as soon as that pack is sealed, the humidity level is guaranteed to stay the same.