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PRAY the future! A great idea at Cégep de Matane

An innovative project was officially launched on August 30th at the Cégep de Matane, while the collegiate I students from the Nature Sciences program, in collaboration with the Institutional Environment Action and Consultation Committee, launched an appeal to the entire community. college to recycle their pencils. With the theme: «PRAY the future! Young people are offering students and campus staff to recycle their pens, markers and pencils of all kinds by depositing them in the different collection boxes available throughout the school. The collected material will be sent to TerraCycle, which will have the mission to give it a second life. This project was born thanks to the initiative of Mario Lévesque, teacher of the Biology course Evolution and diversity of life in the Science program who had the idea of integrating the project into his class. "As an educational institution, we generate an incredible amount of pens, mechanical pencils, highlighters and permanent markers that unfortunately end up in the trash. As Bruntland Institution and Cégep Vert, we want to stop this pollution by partnering with the wholesale office TerraCycle program. Today, we have started our awareness campaign and we hope that our fellow students and employees will lend themselves to this form of recovery in addition to that of batteries managed by CACE for two years. (Mario Lévesque teacher) Eight picking boxes are already in place and seven more will soon be added to the Matane Cégep.

First You Need To Understand the Problems

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Cigarette Butt Recycling Program

- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor A city councillor remarked at Monday's meeting that the cigarette butt situation in another municipality councillors recently visited is far worse than Owen Sound. Presumably the councillor was referring to Ottawa, where councillors attended the AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) annual conference. Of course this is not surprising as the population of Ottawa is 45 times larger than Owen Sound, and it attracts 11 million visitors a year. But the comment struck me because the councillor seemed to assume that the recent local concern about cigarette butts is aesthetics. An attractive downtown is certainly a positive thing. The placement of butt recycling containers in our downtown core is absolutely a laudable step. We look forward to hearing the details of this pilot project – what are the goals, how long will it last and how will we measure success? But the real worry about cigarette butts is their contamination of our soil, air and water, and the subsequent effect on fish, wildlife and children. The Owen Sound Waste Watchers have been focussing most of their attention on the river and harbour edges, because those butts do not even go through the storm sewers and interceptors - they blow or wash directly into the bay. Although there are more butts when we hold special events like Harbourfest, Summerfolk, the Salmon Spectacular and the upcoming Riverside Reunion, most of the year the harbour sees plenty of visitors. Strollers, dog walkers, boat launchers, and ship watchers – statistics say 16% percent of those are smokers. We need to keep as many of their cigarette butts as we can out of the water. Parking lots and gutters are the #1 source of butts – an unintended consequence of removing ashtrays from cars and banning smoking in buildings. Because smoking is also prohibited near entrances of many buildings, butt disposal containers have been removed, or never placed there, to discourage smoking around the door. A Catch-22, for sure. As research for this piece, more than 500 butts were picked up in less than twenty minutes on the sidewalk and gutter in front of a few of the big stores on Owen Sound's eastern edge. It could have been done much more quickly with a broom and pan, but then the butts could not be sent to Terracycle for recycling. So the butt of the smoker catching a quick drag to meet their need 'twixt car and destination? Into the gutter (or a planter, or sidewalk) it goes. And from there, after a good rain or stiff breeze, into the storm sewer and then to the bay. The Waste Watchers have kept the toxins and plastic of over 60,000 cigarette butts out of Owen Sound's water over the past four months. If our smokers smoke at the average Canadian rate, that means a little more than 1.24 days worth of our butts have been recycled so far. Like most of the complex issues that involve human beings, there are no single, simple solutions to smoking or its by-products. We'll find the variety of approaches needed only by identifying the real priorities, facing them head on and admitting that they need addressing. Special thanks to those who have inspired our inspirers, and led our leaders.

Save the river, one butt at a time

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Cigarette Butt Recycling Program

An organization in Quebec wants to hoard 100,000 cigarette butts around the city, with the goal of protecting the St. Lawrence River from one of the "biggest polluters of our waterways". For the first time in Quebec City, CMONBAG, which aims to protect marine areas and shorelines, is preparing the initiative "I'm not a beggar ..." which will take place on September 14th. The organizers invite citizens to clean up the city by picking up cigarette butts thrown to the ground. On the day of the event, four drop-off points will be set up to collect cigarette butts, at the corner of Cartier and René-Lévesque Streets, at D'Youville Square, at Durocher Center and at the corner of 3rd Avenue and Avenue. of the Canardière.

50 million liters of water

"We know that a single cigarette butt pollutes up to 500 liters of water, so with our 100,000 butts, we want to protect 50 million liters of water in the river," says the organization's director, Claudette The station. All cigarette butts will then be donated to Toronto-based TerraCycle, which specializes in recycling, to make lawn chairs, says Légaré. The twenty or so organizers will also give smokers pocket ashtrays to encourage them to "collaborate in the preservation of the environment". According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, cigarette butts are at the top of the blacklist of the biggest polluters found near Canadian shores. Last year, a record number of cigarette butts, 560,432, were collected across Canada's shores.

Five Zero-Wasters Share Their Top Tips for Going Zero Waste

TerraCycle Garnier Solo Honest Kids Include Canada (English) Brita ZWB Arm & Hammer

These zero-wasters have ditched the trash can almost entirely. Pick and choose from their tips for going zero waste to shrink your own waste (plus any eco-guilt). These days, knowing how to recycle isn’t enough. Zero waste is the sustainability method of the moment, and it’s not just a passing fad: Living with less is one way of preserving the environment and already-dwindling resources, and going zero waste is actually almost (dare we say it) easy. There’s a lot of garbage out there. The United States sent 137.7 million tons of trash to landfills in 2015, according to the Environmental Protection Agency—and a recent report found we’re on track to run out of space in landfills within the next two decades. China is importing fewer of the recyclable plastics we’ve been sending there. And far too many items don’t make it to landfills or recycling plants in the first place: Think of all the litter along our roads and the sad stories about sea turtles with straws in their nostrils and whales with bags in their bellies. In some ways, this problem is bigger than any one person. To make a real dent, we’d need our legislators to support more plastic bans, regulate wasteful industries, and be more aggressive about protecting the planet beyond the waste problem. Still, our actions do make a difference. The more consumers and voters start caring about waste reduction in their day-to-day lives, experts say, the more businesses and governments will make it a priority. “The best thing we can do, environmentally speaking, is not produce waste in the first place,” says Jenna Jambeck, PhD, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia and a National Geographic fellow specializing in solid waste. “I’ve been totally convinced by my research that, taken collectively, small choices make a difference. These choices, even if we aren’t perfect, add up to significant positive impacts over time.” These choices include everything from utilizing zero waste disposal options to adopting a zero waste lifestyle—making decisions large and small that move the needle in the right direction, even a little. You’ll see the impact in your life too: less clutter, money saved, new peace of mind. You don’t have to take every step experts suggest here—do what works for you, and you just might find life is better with less garbage in it. Start with these tips for going zero waste, straight from practiced zero-wasters—including the mind behind Zero Waste Home—and you’ll be off to a great start. You may even find yourself surprised by how easy using less can be.

Use what you already have.

“I don’t encourage anyone to go out and buy things, like a pretty stainless-steel water bottle or organic-cotton shopping bag, in order to go zero-waste,” says Tippi Thole, founder of the zero-waste website Tiny Trash Can. “We should be buying less, not more! If I have a plastic item in good working condition, I use it as long as I can.” Manufacturing reusable tote bags and water bottles tends to use a lot more resources and energy than manufacturing the disposable versions, so don’t churn through them.

Refuse first.

People are constantly trying to give you single-use stuff: a flyer on the street, a sample in the store, a bag of stickers and knickknacks at a birthday party. “No matter how much you reduce, reuse, and recycle, you’re still the target of many items,” says Bea Johnson, author of Zero Waste Home ($11; amazon.com), who says her family of four creates only a pint of garbage per year. “Say no on the spot to stop it from becoming your trash problem down the line.”

Rearrange the trash.

Moving the kitchen trash can somewhere inconvenient, like the garage, forces everyone in the house to consider whether items could be composted or recycled instead. “Just by rearranging the bins and shocking everyone out of the habit of tossing something into the can, we halved the amount of garbage we produced,” says Larkin Gayl, who shares zero-waste tips on Instagram at @unfetteredhome.

Pack reusable necessities.

Think about the single-use items you pick up most in the outside world (coffee cups? utensils? to-go boxes? straws?) and stash a reusable version in your bag or car so you always have it with you. “We even carry a growler in our car for beer emergencies!” says zero-waster Sarah Schade, an art and design student in Traverse City, Michigan. When you come home, remember to wash your reusables and put them back so they’re ready to go the next day.

Borrow before buying.

You borrow books—why not borrow a weed whacker, stand mixer, or circle saw too? Borrowing things like tools and kitchen gadgets saves you from shelling out for something you’ll only use a few times a year. Plus, Lepeltier adds, “connecting with neighbors when you borrow something makes in-life connections and creates community.” Searchmyturn.com and buynothingproject.org/find-a-group, or write a post on Nextdoor. You can also rent tools from many hardware stores and Home Depot locations.

Do a trash audit.

It might sound icky, but poke through your garbage can to find your household’s worst waste offenders. (Or just make a note—and ask those you live with to do the same—of what you toss in a typical week.) “Pick the thing that shows up most in the garbage and find a swap for it,” says Gayl. For example, she noticed a ton of granola bar wrappers in her trash and started making batches of grab-and-go snacks instead.

Don’t feel like you have to make everything yourself.

“I’ve experimented with sourdough and making kombucha, but I’m not running a Whole Foods at my home,” says Chloé Lepeltier, who blogs about her low-impact lifestyle on the site Conscious By Chloé. The idea is to find habits you can sustain, so only DIY if you enjoy it.

Green your period.

If you’re up for it, Schade endorses switching to a reusable menstrual cup. Made out of silicone, it typically lasts a year, replacing the 240 or so tampons you might use during that time. (It also keeps packaging, applicators, and sometimes agrochemical-intensive cotton out of the trash.) Or consider period underwear like the ones from Thinx or Dear Kate—they may not eliminate your need for tampons entirely, but you’ll cut back in a big way.

Raise tiny tree huggers.

“Kids are often the best place to start in your waste-reduction journey because they tend to be more sensitive to the problem and don’t have the bad habits we adults do,” says Thole. Ask children to help cook (and therefore eat less food packaged in plastic); fill up at the bulk bins together; and talk about the materials that go into making a plastic toy—and the landfill the toy will end up in. But be warned: Soon enough, they may call out your eco-blunders.

Invest in a TerraCycle bin.

The company TerraCycle accepts many items that can’t always be recycled locally, like coffee capsules, toothpaste tubes, and potato chip bags. It partners with brands—including Arm & Hammer, Brita, Garnier, Honest Kids, even Solo cups—to offer free recycling of their products. Or you can buy a bin or pouch for a specific need. It’s pricey (pouches cost $42 and up), but that’s a deterrent to creating trash, says Gayl: “The cost to recycle motivates me to think before I purchase.”

LANDISH: A MONTREAL STARTUP invests in a better balance and well-being at work

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Landish

A young Montreal company is dedicated to the nutritional health and better fitness of people swept away by the whirlwind of long working hours, where poor nutrition, lack of energy and good nutrients are slipping into the agenda. This startup is called Landish, a word that comes from outlandish (strange, unknown) and which, unlike the latter, would mean "familiar, not so strange." This name perfectly describes the brand new Landish products coming to the market, namely protein bars and powders, a range of natural products, nutrient dense and containing beneficial ingredients such as insects, algae and certain varieties of mushrooms. as many high-performance foods that have been consumed for ages in many parts of the world. That's how six bars and five protein powders are offered to meet the needs of people in a hurry and overworked, whether for a quick breakfast, the small cravings in the middle of the day when the energy is on the decline, when traveling between two appointments, and even before or after training. In fact, all the reasons are good to eat with a Landish product, especially when the snack is both good for the taste and for health! A question of balance and well-being at work ... The Landish team is made up of dynamic and dedicated people, who are very aware of the importance of maintaining a good balance between a healthy and varied diet and physical exercise, despite the heavy workload in the office. With this in mind, they organize a series of outdoor activities every month that they offer to various businesses in downtown Montreal with the goal of getting their employees moving. These outings have already started in May and continue throughout the year, even in winter. Already, Mistplay, GoMaterials, Building Stack, Heyday and Life House companies have agreed to participate, knowing that moving in a group is always more stimulating and fun. Transportation is provided by Landish, not to mention the snack with protein bars during a well-deserved break! ... and a question of environment Landish is also sensitive to the future of our planet and is constantly looking for solutions to reduce its environmental impacts. The young company relies heavily on responsible food and sustainable development. And it makes it a priority! It has therefore decided to tackle two problems: food packaging waste and deforestation.

11 NEW PRODUCTS FOR THE LOAN WORK WEEK

Busy days are often synonymous with a diet on the go that provides no nutritional benefit. The Quebec company Landish has created several products with high nutritional density, in order to meet the daily reality of people in a hurry and to revolutionize the world of snacks. Its products stand out in nutritional and environmental terms. These are energizing foods (10 grams of protein for a single bar), perfect at work, at home or in any physical activity, whether in the gym or outdoors! The 11 new Landish products - 6 bars and 5 protein powders - are all easy to consume when time is of the essence and are also known for their high levels of protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other essential nutrients. With three distinctive components - reishi mushroom powder, spirulina powder and cricket powder - these products bring countless benefits.

These functional protein bars and powders are composed of:

• Reishi mushroom, nicknamed the mushroom of immortality and recognized for thousands of years in oriental medicine, especially for its support for the immune system. Traditional Chinese medicine gives her many powers, including strengthening the whole body and helping her maintain optimal health and balance. The bars come in two flavors, vanilla chai and espresso chocolate, while powders are chai or chocolate-flavored. • Spirulina, a blue-green microalga containing an abundance of nutrients in a very small volume. Spirulina is indeed a powerful antioxidant and offers a significant dose of vitamin B, iron, magnesium, iodine and beta-carotene, giving it a reputation as an energizer. The bars come in two flavors, vanilla coconut and double chocolate, and the powder is vanilla flavored. • Cricket powder, known for its complete protein intake with the nine essential amino acids and vitamin B12, a profile that gives it a nutritional replacement for meat. Cricket powder also contains chitin, a prebiotic fiber that provides benefits for digestive health. This cricket powder comes from Canadian sources. The bars come in two new flavors, chocolate mint and cinnamon apple, while the powder is offered in chocolate and vanilla flavors. Landish functional protein bars contain very little sugar (three times less than conventional bars), are gluten-free, dairy-free, nuts and peanuts. Landish protein powders have no added sugar. Bars can be stored for up to nine months in a cool, dry place or in a refrigerator. The different powders are quickly added to a smoothie or yogurt, and even in hot chocolate, herbal tea, a mix of pancakes or homemade muffins! All Landish products are sold on the company's website, as well as in the eight Avril markets located in Quebec and at Lufa Farms. The company spares no effort to reduce the impact of its bar wraps, which are made of rolled aluminum to maximize the freshness of the product, like most of these products on the market. Recycling of this type of packaging is not offered by municipalities. Landish has partnered with TerraCycle, a company specializing in the recycling of "non-recyclable". The latter transforms difficult to recycle materials and makes them park benches, garbage cans, chairs, etc. To find out how to participate in this eco-responsible movement, simply register here. In addition, for each online order made on the Landish site from Quebec, the company planted a tree in the province, in partnership with the organization One Tree Planted. According to this organization, since 2001, Quebec has seen a decrease of seven million hectares of forest land.

Young Matane discouraged by butts after picking up a ton of garbage Garbage collection chores in the region of Matane

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Cigarette Butt Recycling Program

During the garbage collection supervised by the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi (CJE) in the Matane region during the summer, allowing some twenty young people between the ages of 18 and 29 to harvest 2,358 pounds on the banks. The river and the Matane River, during six chores, a waste particularly discouraged the participants, unable to overcome and surprised by the extent of this invisible pollution: cigarette butts.

"It's a type of garbage they've found everywhere, and they have not been able to fully pick it up, so much so that some of the smokers in the group have begun to reduce their cigarette consumption and think about a way to to pick them up, for example in a pocket ashtray, "said Sylvie Dubé, of the CJE Matane region, in charge of the waste collection activity organized during the summer in collaboration with the Mission 100 tons. The latter, born last year in the province, encourages this kind of chores throughout Quebec, especially to reduce the amount of plastics encountered in the oceans, which could exceed the number of fish by 2050, according to information transmitted by the biologist Lyne Morissette, specialized in the conservation of marine ecosystems.

several solutions could be considered. In Europe, for example, states are considering how to push the tobacco industry to cover some of the costs of managing and cleaning up this waste, as well as the costs of raising awareness. For its part, the City of Montreal has entered into a partnership with TerraCycle, a company specializing in recycling. On the spot, the program Mégot Zéro, defended by the Society for Action, Education and Environmental Awareness of Montreal (SAESEM), consisted in installing several ashtrays recuperators in the public space, attached for example to the electric poles. In the metropolis, 74,000 cigarette butts were collected on May 3, 2019 during a chore. During the summer, councilor Matane Annie Veillette had recalled that the City was interested in receiving citizen projects as part of its green fund, which could finance for example the installation of cigarette ashtrays in the center. city, to prevent them from ending up in the pipes and the environment.

Is Canada's Cannabis Packaging Excessive?

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Canopy Growth

Have you ever ordered a gram of legal cannabis online in Canada only to have it arrive in a huge box that holds only a small plastic container? Are you weary of a sea of plain packaging that features a stop sign-like red hexagon that signals the inclusion of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive component of cannabis? After more than six months of legalized cannabis in Canada, the way in which legal cannabis is packaged is definitely a far cry from the dime bag packaging of illegal cannabis. While the government is making safety their number one priority, there has been some not-too positive feedback about cannabis packaging, saying it is excessive and expressing concerns over its environmental impact. So is Canada’s cannabis packaging excessive? Let’s take a look. Requirements galore Ordering a gram of cannabis myself from the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), I was surprised when the package arrived in a large box that contained a bulky plastic jar for the small amount of cannabis that was inside. It turns out I’m not the only one who has shown concern over the excessive packaging, with other consumers taking to Twitter and Reddit to voice their opinions.

Users have called the packaging “excessive” and “overkill.” One customer weighed the packaging and found it was nearly 40 times heavier than the cannabis she bought — 38 grams to one gram. “Once you open it, it’s just such overkill,” Candace MacDonald told the Growth Op. “There’s one itty-bitty bud in it, and I could probably pack half an ounce in there.” The Cannabis Act, which legalized cannabis in Canada, included many packaging requirements that aim to create as safe a legal environment as possible. Requirements include labels that must feature a yellow health warning and a red THC symbol, and packaging that must keep the cannabis dry, be in a plain uniform solid colour, be either opaque or translucent, and tamper-evident. “We have arguably more regulations than more controlled substances,” Canopy Growth’s Community Engagement Specialist Courtney Langille said. “Some of this includes being waterproof, airtight, child-resistant, suitable for food-grade materials, [as well as] extensive labelling requirements that are definitely unique to the cannabis companies, [such as] font size, placement.” These requirements do influence how producers design their packaging, according to Langille. “Our packaging has to be larger to accommodate all that information,” she said.

Environmental concern

A big environmental concern with cannabis packaging is their use of plastic. Most plastics don’t biodegrade, which causes it to accumulate and end up in places such as landfills or the ocean. Washington state’s cannabis industry produced so much plastic waste that it clogged gutters, sewers, and landfills, the Washington Post reported the summer of 2018. Plastic seems to be top of mind for Canadians. A 2018 EcoAnalytics report found that 65 percent of respondents feel governments should work quickly to ban single-use plastics such as plastic bags, straws, and bottles, and 32 percent said plastics in the ocean were the top three environmental issues they worry about the most. While there is no regulatory requirement for cannabis producers to use plastic, according to Health Canada, many have turned to it to meet the child-proof requirement given its affordability. According to Aphria’s Vice President of Marketing, Megan McCrae, during the legalization period last October, many Liquor Boards required non-glass packaging solutions, which lead many LPs facing tight deadlines to adopt “off-the-shelf” child-proof packaging. Most cannabis packages are recyclable, but some municipalities have trouble accepting them due to their mix of materials and because they house cannabis, which is considered a sensitive material, Langille said.

Edibles could make things worse

Things might get worse before they get better with cannabis packaging. Edibles are set to hit Canadian stores by mid-December, and with the new wave of legalization come their own regulations on packaging that do not seem to take excessiveness into account. “From an environmental standpoint, it’s going to get much worse,” said Michael Garbuz, founder of cannabis companies Materia Ventures and High 12 Brands. “It’s going to be a hugely excessive amount of packaging [for edibles].” The Health Canada regulations for edibles include a limit of 10 mg of THC per edible package, which is essentially a single serving size per package. Garbuz says that with dried flowers you can at least get multiple doses in one package, but that won’t be the case with edibles, which will also have to be child-proof. “[It will] take so many packages to satiate a group of people or even an individual with heavy consumption,” he said. The edibles packaging regulations could also raise the price for consumers. Doug Vidic, the founder of cannabis edibles company Dank D’Lights says that limiting each package to 10 mg, which he finds a “little low,” adds to the cost of packaging that is carried over to the customer. “We don’t want to spend half of your product on packaging distribution versus the actual product,” he said, mentioning that if individual packaging wasn’t required, there could be economies of scale that could reduce the overall price. “If you have to package every 10 mg piece, it does add to your cost.” In Colorado and Washington, edibles packages can contain mult iple servings and have less strict dosage limits.

Workarounds

While the situation may seem bleak concerning excessive cannabis packaging, some companies are making efforts to make it more environmentally friendly. Canopy Growth has partnered with a recycling company TerraCycle to help recycle cannabis packaging properly. Langille said that Canopy Growth subsidiary Tweed has recycling bins in its stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland where customers can drop off their cannabis packaging, regardless of whether it is a Canopy Growth product or not. If you don’t have access to a Tweed location, you can also send your package by mail free of charge by setting up a TerraCycle account and requesting a label. Langille says that the packaging is ground into plastic pellets in Canadian facilities and given new life instead of ending up in landfills or incinerators. So far, over 350,000 pieces — weighing over 7,000 pounds — have been collected, according to the company. “TerraCycle is world-renowned for recycling hard-to-recycle materials,” Langille said, mentioning the company has also partnered with Febreeze and Nespresso for their coffee pods. “[They work] with packing that falls outside of the comfort zone for a lot of municipal recycling programs.” Langille expressed hope that as the industry evolves, new packaging formats will be introduced that are more environmentally conscious, such as ones that are lighter or biodegradable. Health Canada has already amended its regulations to allow for “accordion or peel back-type labels” that should allow smaller packages and “reduce the amount of waste created by cannabis product packaging,” according to the agency. Other companies are exploring more environmentally-friendly packaging for cannabis. Sana Packaging is packaging its cannabis in… cannabis, go figure, by using hemp. Hemp is biodegradable, but also more expensive than petroleum-based plastic. Tweed uses a mixture of tin, which is recyclable, and a plastic child-proof cap for its packaging. Cannabis services company Kushco announced in March an agreement with IEKO Corp. to produce compostable and biodegradable packaging for the cannabis and CBD industries.

Marketing impact

Health Canada’s cannabis packaging regulations not only make it tricky to create environmentally-friendly packaging, but also have an impact on companies’ ability to market their products. The regulations outline that packaging cannot be appealing to young people, depict a person, character or animal, or associate with a “way of life” that includes “glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring.” “The biggest challenge of packaging to date has been around the labels [guidelines],” Garbuz said. “We’re still at a stage where the brand isn’t given as much freedom as I think it should be to express to the customer what the product is and how it is differentiated.” Currently only one “brand element” is allowed on cannabis packaging, such as a logo. If looking into a legal dispensary, you’ll often find a sea of plain white packages. “If the package is covered with warning labels, it’s really hard for the company to quickly distill down to the end consumer the key points about the product that they need to know before consuming it,” Garbuz said. “It turns off a lot of consumers and keeps them within the black market.” McCrae agrees that the regulations do hamper competitiveness with the black market. “Without the ability to build brands and offer consumers a compelling reason to purchase from legitimate channels, we will always be challenged in swaying users away from illegal products,” she said. McCrae notes the limitations are “way beyond what is required by alcohol companies.” Garbuz says that while the industry has begun with regulations more in line with tobacco than alcohol, he thinks over time the industry will move more towards “alcohol-style marketing” as people find cannabis is even more benign than alcohol. Garbuz says that cannabis may even go beyond alcohol in certain ways, such as distribution, given that non-psychoactive products can be made from it that make use of its cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol, or CBD. Right now those products, such as topicals, have the same warnings and plain packaging as cannabis flower, but McCrae says this is “just plain excessive.” “To have a bottle of face cream in a health-warning laden child-proof container is just plain excessive,” she said, mentioning these products carry “virtually no risks.” For now, though, Garbuz says the government is taking a “go slow” approach to see the potential drawbacks of cannabis legalization. “They don’t want to introduce the other end of the spectrum, which is full-blown marketing, before taking a look at true legalization and what actually has played out compared to hypotheses,” he said.

The Wrap

Since Canada is the first major world economy to legalize recreational cannabis, it is a leader in the industry and has decided to play it safe with regulations that may be much more strict than we’ll see years down the line. While plastic containers are a quick and cheap option for companies, customer feedback could make them change their tune soon. As for marketing, time will tell as well if the labelling restrictions will change, and the uniform white cannabis packaging will be replaced with a rainbow of different brands.

Coffee and conversation with Ethical Bean

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) ZWB

Walking up to the Ethical Bean head office in Vancouver, you would never imagine that their roastery is in the same building. You’re greeted by their awesome cafe, and tucked away behind that is their bright office space. Emily, the Marketing Specialist at Ethical Bean, showed me around; the boardroom that displays pictures of the students that Ethical Bean supported through school was definitely a highlight for me. We then donned our smocks and hairnets and walked into the very aromatic roastery. As we walked through the production facility, we were greeted by staff busy packaging the beans. It was great to see everything being completed in the warehouse with such care. After I got the full tour of the roastery, complete with checking out the raw coffee beans, admiring their fuel-efficient roaster, and staring in awe at the sheer amount of coffee beans housed there, Emily and I enjoyed lattes in the onsite cafe and talked about all things Ethical Bean. Bullfrog: The phrase “just.better.” is very important to Ethical Bean. It’s a simple phrase, but there’s a lot of nuance there—what does it mean to you? Emily: I love this question, because I think that when people really understand what “just.better.” means to Ethical Bean, they get this spark to learn more and spread the word. To us, “just.” means justice, and “better.” means quality. It’s kind of like the Fedex logo; once you see the arrow in between the “E” and the “x”, you really can’tunsee it. Similarly, once you know that our purpose is justice for coffee farmers and their families, you really can’t read “just.better.” any other way. I think knowing the story of how Ethical Bean started adds so much colour and context to what we’re doing here. In 1999, our co-founders Lloyd and Kim travelled to Guatemala to adopt their daughter. During their stay, they noticed a large gap between the premium price of coffee at home, and the less-than-desirable reality of the coffee industry in front of them. Believing that there had to be a more equitable way to honor these coffee farmers, they came back to Vancouver and started Ethical Bean Coffee in 2003. You know, it’s easy to sip a cup of coffee and not think about how it travelled all the way to you—from the grower, to the importer, to the processor, to the exporter, to the roaster, to the retailer, and then into your cool coffee mug with a hilarious coffee pun (just brew it!). I love those mugs, by the way. I mean, for most of us, coffee is a part of our daily routine. Wake up, coffee, work, second cup of coffee, head home, think about working out, watch a show, brush your teeth, go to bed, repeat. At Ethical Bean, we do whatever we can to create pause in this routine—to shed light on the volatility and complexity of the coffee industry. That’s why we’re just. And that’s why we’re better. Bullfrog: I love the layers of meaning behind what you do, and especially when it comes to the environment. Can you walk us through your sustainability efforts? Emily: With “ethical” in our name, you can imagine that we filter all of our decisions through the lens of sustainability, doing whatever we can to make the right choice for all parties involved—one of those parties being the planet. Here are a few highlights from our environmental sustainability program:

We only buy Fairtrade Certified coffee. And to be a Fairtrade Certified co-op, you have to uphold certain environmental standards like biodiversity protection, waste management, and the prohibition of GMOs. Fairtrade co-ops can also choose to invest their Fairtrade Premium into environmental programs, such as reforestation projects or water treatment systems.
We only buy 100% Organic certified coffee. No harmful chemicals = no negative impact on local water quality, ecosystems, and liveability.
We partner with Bullfrog Power: Since 2009, we’ve been working with Bullfrog Power to reduce our emissions footprint by purchasing 100% renewable natural gas and green fuel for our head roastery and vehicle fleet. To date, we’ve displaced 938 tonnes of carbon.
We have a bag return program: We hear it all the time, and rightfully so: “why aren’t your bags recyclable?” Long story short: we’ve yet to find a recyclable or compostable bag that meets our standards of freshness and food safety—and trust me, we’re looking! The good news is that we have a bag return program, so people can send in or drop off their empty bags and we’ll send the bags to Terracycle, a company that specializes in difficult-to-recycle waste streams. They clean, shred, and pelletize the plastic, and then find ways to integrate it into products already in production, like park benches. Plus, when customers send us 12 empty bags, they get a free bag of fresh coffee in return.
We have 100% certified compostable pods: A couple of years ago we partnered with Purpod to launch K-Cup compatible single-serve coffee pods. Made of 100% renewable, bio-based materials, including coffee chaff (skin of coffee bean), the pods break down in as little as five weeks in commercial composting systems.

Ethical Bean’s 100% compostable pods are K-Cup compatible. Bullfrog: We’re so happy to be a part of all the good you’re doing on the daily! Speaking of which, what does a day in the life look like at Ethical Bean? Emily: For me: Arrive at work. Check emails while sipping on an almond milk americano misto prepared by one of our cafe’s talented baristas (yes, we have a cafe attached to our head office and roastery). Get a pulse on what’s happening on social. Respond to questions and feedback. Take some photos for future collaborations (we’re always looking for ethical companies to partner with). Coffee round 2. Find new ways to optimize our online store experience. Start a new blog post. Head home and smell like a bag of coffee beans for the rest of the night… Bullfrog: There are worse things to smell like! So I hear Ethical Bean has an app—why does a coffee company need one of those? Emily: When I think about our app, I think about that episode of Portlandia where they go to lunch and probe their server for more information about the chicken they want to order—“So, how big is the area where the chickens are able to roam free?” “Is that USDA Organic, or Oregon Organic, or Portland Organic?” Image source. As funny as this episode was, it touched on something pretty serious. That is, the significance of traceability, and the role evidence plays when working towards equality. Our app serves to answer any and all questions someone could have about the specific bag of beans they’re holding. Where was it roasted? Like… exactly where? Can I see the co-op’s Fairtrade and Organic certificates? When was my coffee roasted? For how many minutes? At what temperature? Who roasted it? How long have they worked with Ethical Bean? What do they like to do in their spare time? What’s my coffee’s cupping score? How sweet is the cup? Is there a strong aftertaste? Screenshots from Ethical Bean’s iPhone app In a sea of claims and certifications, it allows our consumers to make an informed decision and feel confident knowing that we’re doing what we say we’re doing. Also, on your next coffee break, you should probably watch this 2-minute Portlandia clip about the local chicken. Bullfrog: That’s a great clip. It’s so outrageous, but it still gets to the heart of the matter: if a company is really doing the right thing, they should be able to prove it. We’ve already talked about Ethical Bean’s story and about the impact you’re making now. What do you have in store for the future? Emily: It’s an exciting time at Ethical Bean. As many people know, we’ve recently joined a much larger family—the Kraft Heinz Canada family. With this transition comes many new opportunities to deliver impact at some serious scale. For example, our change in ownership allows us to substantially increase the funds we’re giving to the Fairtrade movement and Fairtrade coffee farmers, which was the reason we started in the first place. Bullfrog: I’m so glad that you’re able to scale up your positive impact. I have one final question for you: what’s your favourite Ethical Bean roast? Emily: Ooh, hard question. I have a few. I tend to enjoy a more chocolatey finish, so I’ve obviously fallen in love with our lush medium dark roast. Here’s a description of lush from our Aaron, our Director of Coffee: A coffee for all seasons. Most popular for a reason. Fruit, smoke, and earth tones. If you drink coffee, you’ll like this. Bullfrog: Hold up—what’s a Director of Coffee? Emily: Pretty awesome thing to be a director of, eh? As our Director of Coffee, Aaron manages all things coffee—from sourcing, to buying, to roasting to quality control. He has over 20 years of experience, and is one of Canada’s first Q Graders (think sommelier but for coffee), meaning his sense of smell and taste are top notch. Ethical Bean’s Director of Coffee, Aaron De Lazzer I like to say that once you know Aaron, you know Ethical Bean. His passion for our eight different roasts, ethical coffee production, and just coffee in general is truly contagious.

In the loop

TerraCycle tom szaky Nestle Unilever Include Canada (English) Procter & Gamble Carrefour Walgreens Loop Häagen-Dazs Kroger Loblaw Soapply Melanin Essentials

Businesses are faced with significant challenges every day. Among the most demanding are working towards a supply chain that is sustainable, yet profitable. It’s no longer about minimally meeting environmental regulations but creating value for consumers and stakeholders. The focus is toward more innovative, opportunity-focused thinking that considers impacts on the planet and society (is it positive, neutral or simply “less bad”?) and prepares organizations for resilience and growth in an uncertain future. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, thinking critically about the function of packaging and the ways they can change the paradigm around production and consumption is one aspect of designing a supply chain that can take us out of the linear and into a regenerative circular economy. As the system currently operates, industry produces on a one-way track to landfilling and incineration. Raw material is sourced from the earth to produce commodities sold, used and disposed, and the value of the material is lost—either buried or burned. Facilities waste and other pre-consumer materials meet the same fate. From linear to circular This make-use-dispose pipeline is known as the linear economy because products and packaging, once manufactured and used, too often go in one direction: the garbage. Conversely, the concept of a circular economy keeps resources in the supply chain at high value by recovering, reusing and repurposing whenever possible. Within this context, supply chain doesn’t just refer to the materials and processes involved in the back-end of making and distributing something, but the full lifecycle of an item, including when it leaves the production line. The consumer goods supply chain is currently quite wasteful end-to-end; focusing on packaging reveals significant opportunities for improvement. Many “green” packaging trends aim to solve for waste with the end-user, the link where the value of material is visibly lost. For example, biodegradable bioplastics made of renewable feedstocks instead of petroleum are supposed to break down in the environment as plastic litter does not. This demonstrates a change in raw material sourcing and an attempt to prevent litter with a material that will decompose. However, most compostable bioplastics need an industrial composting facility to break down. There are only a handful of those globally, and many don’t want this in their piles. What’s more, the resources needed to produce bioplastic are agricultural space, water and material the world is nowhere near able to sustain at scale. Another example of manufacturers aiming to tackle waste on both ends of the supply chain is the practice of lightweighting packaging by either replacing materials with a lighter weight alternative (glass with plastic) or using less material. The idea is less waste at the front and back end, but often results in a product or package rendered non-recyclable through conventional channels. What neither of these methods do is value resources such that they are kept cycling within the supply chain and in use for as long as possible, extracting their maximum value and recovering them for reintegration. Each practice assumes the resources that go into producing packaging, and the resulting post-consumer waste, is disposable and still treats the material as single-use. We did a lot of reflection and realized that the foundational cause of garbage is disposability. For a packaging designer, an effective approach when considering materials is to make packaging out of material that recyclers want and have the technology to handle. It’s about the entire supply chain and the potential for a recycling company to make a profit. But a circular economy is one that focuses on durability and use of renewable resources, including energy inputs. Recycling, while important, is energy and resource intensive, which is why so many items are not considered cost-effective to recycle. The need for profit Packaging design for profitability is certainly complex enough without considering the full life cycle of materials. Manufacturers and brands that commit to sustainability in a practical, scalable way stand out in an industry that still profits from the status quo, but it must be profitable in order for it to stick in the short-term. Rethinking all aspects of the supply chain, from sourcing to end-of-life, is the key. Above all resources, true change requires boldness. TerraCycle’s new circular shopping platform Loop works with brands to create durable versions of goods previously housed in single-use packaging. The products are offered in a combination of glass, stainless steel, aluminum and engineered plastics designed to last at least 100 uses; when they do wear out, TerraCycle is able to recycle them, cycling the value of the material. Offering trusted brands in upgraded containers, consumers enjoy products they love while eliminating packaging waste—a “win-win” for profitable, sustainable supply chains. Conveniently delivered to one’s doorstep, the Loop Tote doesn’t use bubble wrap, air packs, plastic foam, or cardboard boxes, also scrapping excess e-commerce packaging material. With Loop, brands are taking the bold step of owning their package at every link on the supply chain and putting their packages back on the line. While the goal of the platform is to eventually eliminate single-use packaging from the waste stream altogether, manufacturers have the opportunity to offer their refillable products as an additional SKU in their product lines, which has virtues for large and small brands alike. While large companies have the resources and funding to take on a lighthouse project like this, smaller businesses have the flexibility to design for sustainability in the now. Corporations such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever can make a huge impact here, while young companies like Soapply and Melanin Essentials set the standard for making sustainability a part of their DNA. As an integral aspect of the supply chain, retailer partnerships bring the packaging into stores, making it accessible for consumers. In the United States, our founding partners are Walgreens and Kroger, Europe has Carrefour, and Canada’s largest food and pharmacy retailer Loblaw Companies Limited recently announced it would launch the platform in the country early-2020. Developing close collaborations of this kind creates a strong position for all players to offer higher-value products with less waste on the back-end. Reconciling innovation and growth with sustainability is by no means an easy task, and dialogue with all stakeholders yield more-complete information and options to consider. An important thing to remember is that supply chains are about people, not just processes. What’s interesting is the higher up the waste hierarchy you move (from litter to landfill, waste to energy, to recycling, upcycling and reuse) the more jobs you create in the process. In terms of injecting value in moving from the linear to the circular economy, this is a positive most of us can agree on. In the end, sustainability comes down to taking responsibility. What companies tend to be good at is being efficient in their operations. Focus less on the physical factory as the point of the environmental issue and realize everything put out on the market will become garbage unless you take responsibility for it. Everything leaving the factory currently becomes waste.

Tom Szaky is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle Design products that have value, instead of harm. The circular economy at its ideal is intended to be regenerative. Shouldn’t we aspire that our products actually create a benefit? Even If we get to 100 per cent recycling, 100 per cent recycled content and zero packaging waste from reusable packaging, we’ve only hit net neutral. What is net positive? We need to start thinking about that versus just going about how are we going to eliminate our negative.

Victoria changes rules to allow cannabis packaging to be recycled at stores

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) Canopy Growth

Image: Evergreen Cannabis Society owner Mike Babins reaches into the packaging-recycling bin in his store | Rob Kruyt) “We had an inspector in for our regular biannual inspection,” Evergreen Cannabis Society owner Mike Babins told Business in Vancouver. “He said, ‘Technically that is considered open packaging so you can’t have it in here.’” Babins then came up with a temporary workaround to have the recycling bin, which is co-branded with his own logo, outside his store. He then phoned the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch and prompted its senior corporate policy analyst, James Roy, to speak with executives at the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch. “You are good to go with putting the recycling box in your store where customers can deposit their used cannabis packaging, provided there is never any inducement to purchase wholesale product from the [licensed producer] sponsoring the box,” Roy then wrote to Babins in a July email. Babins said that when he first installed TerraCycle’s large cardboard box and plastic liner in his store, he confirmed with the company that it would accept all companies’ packaging – not just packaging from products that were made by Tweed. Other cannabis-store owners are glad that the situation has been worked out.

(Image Muse Cannabis president Geoff Dear stands outside his cannabis store on south Granville Street | Rob Kruyt) Muse Cannabis Store president Geoff Dear told BIV that as soon as his store opened on south Granville Street earlier this summer, customers were asking how they could return packaging. “They also asked why the packaging is this way,” Dear said. “We have to do a lot of customer education.” •