A Williams Lake cannabis store does not want your recycling to go to waste.
Daily Stash Cannabis has launched a collection drop off for packaging that will be sent to a special facility in Ontario where it will be melted down into pallets of specialized plastic and reused.
Co-owner Roy Buxbaum says due to the involvement of the government, cannabis now comes in tamper-proof packaging.
“Some of them are heavy-duty square containers with tamper-proof lids and what ends up happening is people don’t know what to do with them,” he says. “They finish the cannabis products that they’ve purchased, they will either throw it in the garbage which ends up in a landfill, or people will say to themselves I’m going to go and recycle this.”
Because the packaging is a difficult product to recycle, Buxbaum says what goes into the recycle bins does not always end up being recycled.
“One of the larger licensed producers within Canada has gone into an agreement with a recycling company that is international, and what they’ve allowed us to do is to recycle all of the cannabis containers,” he says. “So you know when you’re driving down the road or even in our lot, I’ll pull in the morning and I’ll see let’s say a coffee cup and some fast food garbage laying in our lot-not from us, somebody has just discarded it, and what we really don’t want to see, and we’ve already seen it, is this cannabis packaging ending up in our streets and in our landfills.”
As well as any cannabis packaging, Buxbaum says they will also be accepting vaping products.
“Everything except for I believe the batteries, we can now accept those and we can ensure that they get to a proper location where they are recycled and reused or disposed of properly,” he says. “So for us, that’s pretty exciting. We’re pretty happy that we’re able to do this and it doesn’t matter to us if you’ve purchased your cannabis products from us or any other store. If you have them and you’re wondering what you can do with them, you’re welcome to come down.”
Daily Stash Cannabis opened last month. It is currently accepting non-perishable donations for the Williams Lake Salvation Army until the end of March.
“We’d love the community’s input on a month by month basis to let us know what are the charities that are near and dear to their heart so that we can actively pursue supporting those charities as well,” Buxbaum says.
Recycle BC said residents can recycle hard plastic cannabis packaging in their curbside collection or at a Cariboo Regional District depot.
(This article has been updated for clarity and to include comment from Recycle BC.)