Black is the new recycling for The Sweet Potato.   The Toronto grocer recently introduced a recycling program for black plastic after belatedly discovering it is not accepted by the City of Toronto. In a recent blog post announcing the program’s creation, The Sweet Potato said it was surprised to learn that Canada’s largest city doesn’t recycle black plastic.   The company said it believed it had made a “prudent and environmentally sustainable choice” when selecting its own black plastic containers, only to discover it had unknowingly contributed to the problem of plastic waste.   “It just seems crazy that all these people are at home with black plastic from us and it suddenly has to become garbage,” The Sweet Potato’s founder and co-owner, Digs Dorfman told Canadian Grocer. “So we just decided to let people bring it back themselves.”   The Sweet Potato is inviting customers to bring clean black plastic and baby food pouches to the store’s customer service desk during operating hours. It will accept black plastic even if it isn’t from its store, said Dorfman.   Black plastic containers are a mainstay of restaurant and grocery stores, used primarily for takeout food items such as rotisserie chicken. The Sweet Potato had been using black plastic containers in its grab-and-go business, as well as for items such as cut vegetables and fruit (the company has since stopped using them in the produce department and will soon phase them out in its prepared food section, said Dorfman).   While neighbouring municipalities including Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon all recycle black plastic, Toronto said it was unable to do so for two reasons: It can’t be mechanically sorted at the recycling facility because it is not recognized by the optical sorting technology, and there is “no stable market” for the volume of black plastic generated by the city.   As much as one-third of the material in blue bins is improperly disposed of, according to the city’s website, with black plastic among the primary offenders. It urges residents to dispose of it in the regular garbage. The Sweet Potato’s new recycling program is being carried out in partnership with TerraCycle, which will send the plastic to its facility in Fergus, Ont. TerraCycle, which bills itself as a global leader in collecting and repurposing “hard-to-recycle” waste, said it had recycled billions of pieces of waste since its 2001 formation.   Sustainability and the environment are among The Sweet Potato’s core values, said Dorfman. “It’s pretty central to what we do,” he said. “Environmental concerns are one of the most significant priorities for us whenever we’re making any type of decision.”   The store is promoting its recycling program through a combination of in-store signage and social media posts, said Dorfman. Staff have also been trained to answer customer questions about the program.   The Sweet Potato stressed this wasn’t intended to be a permanent solution, noting it didn’t believe private solutions were the appropriate fix for public programs such as the state of public recycling infrastructure.   “We hope you will continue to advocate for a more sustainable civic infrastructure,” states the blog post. “In the meantime, however, we’re very glad that we won’t all have black plastic cluttering up the place or going needlessly to landfill.”   The Sweet Potato’s program comes amid growing awareness of the environmental impact of plastic waste and increased consumer pressure on businesses of all types to eliminate single-use plastics.   Grocery chains around the world have introduced initiatives aimed at curbing single-use plastic items such as bags and food packaging. Last month, for example, Metro announced it would allow its customers to shop using refillable containers.

  Canon Canada, HP Canada, The Printing House, Symcor and Xerox Canada have been recognized as some of Canada’s Greenest Employers for 2019, based on the criteria of Mediacorp Canada Inc., which manages Canadian employment programs and events. Now in its 12th year, Canada’s Greenest Employers is a competition that recognizes employers that create a culture of environmental awareness. Winning employers, selected by editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, are evaluated using four main criteria: Unique environmental initiatives or programs they have developed; whether they have been successful in reducing their own environmental footprint; whether their employees are involved in these programs and contribute unique skills; and whether their environmental initiatives have become linked to the employer’s public identity, attracting new employees or customers. “We are proud to be recognized for our continuing commitment to the environment and sustainability,” says Nobuhiko Kitajima, President and CEO of Canon Canada. “We are guided by our corporate philosophy, Kyosei — all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future — and this recognition reflects our commitment to helping shape a more sustainable world for not only our local communities but also the global community at large.” Mediacorp explains some of the reasons why the following companies were selected as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers (2019), among a range of initiatives: • Canon Canada celebrated Earth Week by hosting its second annual Environmental Education Day and welcoming over 100 grade six and seven students for a day of fun awareness workshops, hosted in partnership with local organizations such as the Toronto Region Conservation Authority, Credit Valley Conservation, Earth Rangers, and the Ontario Clean Water Agency. • HP Canada manages a number of programs to help employees make healthy choices at home and at work, including a free onsite health screening clinic, wellness webinars on topics such as mindfulness and work-life balance, and a global wellness challenge to encourage employees to get physically active every week for a total of six weeks (employees receive redeemable points for participating). • HP Canada supports new mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents, with maternity and parental leave top-up payments as well as the option to extend their leave into an unpaid leave of absence. • The Printing House is a major advocate of responsible paper procurement, actively promoting high-recycled content paper and Ancient Friendly Forest paper products for its customers, with over 92 percent of paper purchased being environmentally certified last year • The Printing House supports a number of environmental initiatives throughout the year, including the WWF CN Tower Stair Climb for Nature and The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (in partnership with the WWF and Ocean Wise). The company also partners with the Forest Farmer organization to ensure that one tree is planted for every new account opened at The Printing House, planting nearly 4,000 trees since 2015. • Symcor supports unique “nooks” in common areas where employees are free to drop-off used books, movies and music, allowing them to share and recycle used items as well as enjoy something new. Additionally, IT employees recently established a dedicated Tech Hub Library, which features technology related books for exchange. • Symcor supports a variety of in-house environmental initiatives, including an extensive recycling program to capture non-conventional recyclables, from flip-flops to candy wrappers to wine corks (offered in partnership with TerraCycle), to an internal elastic band and paper-clip collection and reuse program. • Through Xerox Canada’s Bwell program, employees can access a number of online tools and health and wellness resources, including information on related initiatives, such as the company’s spring fitness challenge. • Along with offering paid time off to volunteer, Xerox Canada manages the Xerox Employee Initiated Philanthropy program to provide financial assistance to non-profit organizations where employees regularly volunteer their time. “Our process for incorporating social responsibility and sustainability into our operations and decision-making is ingrained into our culture,” says Andrew O’Born, Vice President of Business Development, The Printing House. “We’ve tried to create a portfolio of things that we keep adding to in order to support our environmental initiatives. In 2019 we will be steadfast in ‘going the extra mile’ to push through barriers, and change our habits to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our environmental impacts.”

  This week in Cannabis: Tweed and TerraCycle choose Earth Day to launch a new cannabis-waste recycling program, the Feds are set to approve a new saliva-testing device that detects recent drug use–but not impairment, and Shoppers Drug Mart launches a portal to buy medical cannabis in Alberta.   We’ve rounded up this week’s top stories from across Canada.  

Cannabis-Waste Recycling Program Goes National

  As outcry over cannabis overpackaging continues, Tweed and US recycling company TerraCycle chose Earth Day to announce the nationwide expansion of their Tweed x TerraCycle cannabis-packaging recycling program (first announced only weeks after legalization).   Though the program has been running in a few stores across Canada for some time, Monday’s announcement launched the service cross-country. In addition to recycling bins in cannabis retailers, the expanded Tweed x TerraCycle offers free pickup of cannabis containers—which will be especially useful both for consumers who don’t have ready access to cannabis stores, and also to those whose municipal recycling does not handle all types of plastic used to package cannabis.   Once Tweed x TerraCycle have collected between 10 and 40 tons of plastic cannabis packaging, they will melt it down into plastic pellets that can be used to make new plastic products.

Hamiltonians are fighting back against the most littered item in the world, cigarette butts. Today, A Greener Future in collaboration with the City of Hamilton held their 5th annual Butt Blitz.   There is over 6 billion pounds of cigarette litter every single year. They may be small, but they do add up quickly and they are very toxic. Butt Blitz is a program where people pick up cigarette litter is just one of the initiatives that Rochelle Byrne, founder of A Greener Future, has organized to clean up Canada. This year, volunteers targeted the beach and the downtown core.   So we all know that there are toxins in cigarettes, and when they are smoked, that ends up in the filter, and then when the cigarette ends up in water, all those toxins can leech out and that can end up in our drinking water. The filter part is made of a plastic material that will break apart as the butts get washed away into our sewers or storm water system. The plastic will end up in the lake or in the soil but will never fully decompose.   Cigarette butts are one of the most ubiquitous forms of litter. Over 3.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered annually across the globe. One of the biggest problems is that people do not have enough cigarette waste reciprocals, convenient enough for them to put their cigarettes out. So if you cannot find one, you can always purchase a disposable one. It has got a metal inside for you to put your cigarette out, store it, and eventually send it to a company like TerraCycle.   TerraCycle is a global company that offers recycling solutions for almost every form of waste. They turn cigarette butts into industrial skids.   Rochelle Byrne is tallying the numbers, she says that Hamilton, today alone, in just two hours, collected well over 35,000 cigarette butts. The effort of roughly 35 volunteers.

    A three-hour single-day clean up event has rid Hamilton of tens of thousands of cigarette butts in the city’s downtown core.   Saturday’s ‘Butt Blitz’ was an affair tied to a prevention program launched this past week, aimed at reducing cigarette litter across the city.   Individual volunteers armed with supply bags and gloves spread out around the city’s lower end to pick up butts in that neighbourhood.   Upon completion of the event, the city claimed volunteers had picked up 37,052 cigarette butts.   A month-long campaign to take cigarette garbage off Ontario streets was launched at the beginning of April with environmental preservation volunteer group A Greener Future behind the initiative.   To date, the group claims to have picked up 772,368 cigarette butts off streets in six provinces across Canada since starting the program in 2015.   Cigarette filters are made from a non-biodegradable plastic and are considered pollution. A Greener Future says the butts are toxic and pose a threat to domestic animals and wildlife, like dogs and fish who can mistake the ends as food.   Cigarette butts picked up by volunteers in Hamilton on Saturday will be sent to TerraCycle Canada for recycling. The plastics inside the waste can be separated by composition and melted into hard plastic that can make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets.     The City of Hamilton along with 5 other local agencies are hoping to educate the public on the negative environmental effects discarded cigarette butts have on the environment. agreenerfuture.ca  

A three-hour single-day clean up event has rid Hamilton of tens of thousands of cigarette butts in the city’s downtown core. Saturday’s ‘Butt Blitz’ was an affair tied to a prevention program launched this past week, aimed at reducing cigarette litter across the city. Individual volunteers armed with supply bags and gloves spread out around the city’s lower end to pick up butts in that neighbourhood. Upon completion of the event, the city claimed volunteers had picked up 37,052 cigarette butts. READ MORE: City of Hamilton launches battle against cigarette butts A month-long campaign to take cigarette garbage off Ontario streets was launched at the beginning of April with environmental preservation volunteer group A Greener Future behind the initiative. To date, the group claims to have picked up 772,368 cigarette butts off streets in six provinces across Canada since starting the program in 2015. WATCH: Toronto fire launches campaign to stop tossing cigarette butts off balconies (October 2018) Cigarette filters are made from a non-biodegradable plastic and are considered pollution. A Greener Future says the butts are toxic and pose a threat to domestic animals and wildlife, like dogs and fish who can mistake the ends as food. Cigarette butts picked up by volunteers in Hamilton on Saturday will be sent to TerraCycle Canada for recycling. The plastics inside the waste can be separated by composition and melted into hard plastic that can make new recycled industrial products, such as plastic pallets.    

 

While most of the news and discussion about cannabis focuses on consumables, responsible professionals are proactively looking ahead and developing solutions to address any social issues that arise with normalization.

Sexist advertising doesn’t cut it.

As this newly legal industry develops, please don’t think that it will accept girls in thongs and half shirts in our advertising (as the beer industry did in the 90s), or women in skin tight dresses at our trade shows (as auto shows still do) or women objectified in any other form. Organizations are being created daily to promote women in this industry. Kyra Reed, leader of Women Entrepreneurs in Cannabis, started a movement three years ago with the sole purpose to support women in this industry. The momentum of her #BetterTogether movement hasn’t slowed down. Related: The Marijuana Advertising Double Standard Is Stifling Our Industry

The time is now for social justice.

Business opportunities abound in the cannabis industry and investors are making an unprecedented amount of cash available for new ventures. In spite of this, blacks and hispanics are having a different experience than whites in the ‘green rush’. Many remain locked out of this huge economic event based on historical persecution targeting people of color. Fortunately, men and women are taking bold steps to address and repair the damage done. People and government are beginning to reinvest in the communities impacted by the war on drugs. Dasheeda Dawson, a.k.a. The WeedHead™, is using legal and regulatory measures to confront social injustices. In an article she wrote, Cannabis Legalization Must Include Restorative Justice, Dawson states “...the greatest potential of the cannabis industry -- (is) to serve as an equalizer on a playing field with built-in advantages for some and disadvantages for many others.” Even industry organizations are stepping up. The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) was involved in producing a viral campaign designed to educate citizens of New York on the inequity of marijuana laws and advocate for reinvesting cannabis revenue into communities that have been most impacted by criminalization. Related: This Is Non-Negotiable: Cannabis Legalization Must Include Restorative Justice

Community support locally.

Oakland-based The Hood Incubator works to increase the participation of black and brown communities in the legal cannabis industry. Through their three core areas of work -- community organizing, policy advocacy and economic development -- they are creating a healthy and sustainable ecosystem of industry access, resources, and support that benefits, rather than harms, black and brown communities. Only two-years old, The Hood Incubator has built a membership of more than 2,000 people nationwide. They’ve supported black and brown entrepreneurs through their Cannabis Business Accelerator program- the first people of color focused cannabis accelerator in the nation. They’ve launched a cannabis industry apprenticeship program to build the pipeline of living wage, locally-based jobs available to their communities. They continue to work closely with the Oakland City Council and community members to develop and implement the nation’s first Cannabis Equity Program. Related: Oakland Strives to Rejuvenate Economically by Becoming California's Cannabis Capital

Mother Nature thanks you.

As one of the fastest-growing channels in both the cannabis and nicotine markets, the vape market creates mountains of waste. From the consumer-focused packaging, to the vaporizer battery and pods, the amount of refuse generated is profound. Cannabis activist Katie Stone, says “Responsible recycling is necessary in the cannabis industry and, frankly it’s the right thing to do.” What works in other industries can be used as a blueprints for similar cannabis recycling programs. TerraCycle, known for recycling the unrecyclable, is geared to putting an end to the waste, one cartridge, vape pen, childproof bag at a time. Unfortunately, it is illegal to re-use the cannabis-holding portions of vape pens, however the materials that make up a vape pen -- from plastics to electronics and batteries -- can be recycled.

Smoke gets in my eyes.

With vaping cannabis and the use of e-cigarettes on the rise, it’s no surprise that people who vape and smoke are still getting push back from non-smokers. Everything from being sent outside to enjoy their vape, to dirty looks on the street when they exhale. At the same time, if you are over 18 and 21, respectively, vaping e-cigarettes or vaping cannabis is a lifestyle choice. One company believes vaping does not have to impact the environment or other people. PHILTER™Labs, Inc is empowering responsible adults with the choice to vape in a traditional manner and to filter emission clouds based on a particular environment. Philter recently debuted the world’s first 4” x ½” dual-function filter. Developed by medical device experts with more than 20 years of experience, Philter’s first-of-a-kind technology empowers responsible adults to partake in universally acceptable vaping behavior. Personal rights and personal choice to vape or not to vape are essential in a polite society.

Learning from the past.

The legal cannabis industry is still new, but we’re smart enough today to learn from the past and make the future better. Cannabis and ancillary businesses are not just looking for opportunities to provide what the Wild West provided (gold and the pick and shovel) they are looking to the future to solve what happens after the entire industry regulates.

Tweed, a subsidiary of Smiths Falls-based cannabis producer Canopy Growth, partnered with TerraCycle, an American recycling company, to introduce the first Canada-wide cannabis packaging recycling program, the companies announced Monday.

 

While most of the news and discussion about cannabis focuses on consumables, responsible professionals are proactively looking ahead and developing solutions to address any social issues that arise with normalization.

Sexist advertising doesn’t cut it.

As this newly legal industry develops, please don’t think that it will accept girls in thongs and half shirts in our advertising (as the beer industry did in the 90s), or women in skin tight dresses at our trade shows (as auto shows still do) or women objectified in any other form. Organizations are being created daily to promote women in this industry. Kyra Reed, leader of Women Entrepreneurs in Cannabis, started a movement three years ago with the sole purpose to support women in this industry. The momentum of her #BetterTogether movement hasn’t slowed down. Related: The Marijuana Advertising Double Standard Is Stifling Our Industry

The time is now for social justice.

Business opportunities abound in the cannabis industry and investors are making an unprecedented amount of cash available for new ventures. In spite of this, blacks and hispanics are having a different experience than whites in the ‘green rush’. Many remain locked out of this huge economic event based on historical persecution targeting people of color. Fortunately, men and women are taking bold steps to address and repair the damage done. People and government are beginning to reinvest in the communities impacted by the war on drugs. Dasheeda Dawson, a.k.a. The WeedHead™, is using legal and regulatory measures to confront social injustices. In an article she wrote, Cannabis Legalization Must Include Restorative Justice, Dawson states “...the greatest potential of the cannabis industry -- (is) to serve as an equalizer on a playing field with built-in advantages for some and disadvantages for many others.” Even industry organizations are stepping up. The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) was involved in producing a viral campaign designed to educate citizens of New York on the inequity of marijuana laws and advocate for reinvesting cannabis revenue into communities that have been most impacted by criminalization. Related: This Is Non-Negotiable: Cannabis Legalization Must Include Restorative Justice

Community support locally.

Oakland-based The Hood Incubator works to increase the participation of black and brown communities in the legal cannabis industry. Through their three core areas of work -- community organizing, policy advocacy and economic development -- they are creating a healthy and sustainable ecosystem of industry access, resources, and support that benefits, rather than harms, black and brown communities. Only two-years old, The Hood Incubator has built a membership of more than 2,000 people nationwide. They’ve supported black and brown entrepreneurs through their Cannabis Business Accelerator program- the first people of color focused cannabis accelerator in the nation. They’ve launched a cannabis industry apprenticeship program to build the pipeline of living wage, locally-based jobs available to their communities. They continue to work closely with the Oakland City Council and community members to develop and implement the nation’s first Cannabis Equity Program. Related: Oakland Strives to Rejuvenate Economically by Becoming California's Cannabis Capital

Mother Nature thanks you.

As one of the fastest-growing channels in both the cannabis and nicotine markets, the vape market creates mountains of waste. From the consumer-focused packaging, to the vaporizer battery and pods, the amount of refuse generated is profound. Cannabis activist Katie Stone, says “Responsible recycling is necessary in the cannabis industry and, frankly it’s the right thing to do.” What works in other industries can be used as a blueprints for similar cannabis recycling programs. TerraCycle, known for recycling the unrecyclable, is geared to putting an end to the waste, one cartridge, vape pen, childproof bag at a time. Unfortunately, it is illegal to re-use the cannabis-holding portions of vape pens, however the materials that make up a vape pen -- from plastics to electronics and batteries -- can be recycled.

Smoke gets in my eyes.

With vaping cannabis and the use of e-cigarettes on the rise, it’s no surprise that people who vape and smoke are still getting push back from non-smokers. Everything from being sent outside to enjoy their vape, to dirty looks on the street when they exhale. At the same time, if you are over 18 and 21, respectively, vaping e-cigarettes or vaping cannabis is a lifestyle choice. One company believes vaping does not have to impact the environment or other people. PHILTER™Labs, Inc is empowering responsible adults with the choice to vape in a traditional manner and to filter emission clouds based on a particular environment. Philter recently debuted the world’s first 4” x ½” dual-function filter. Developed by medical device experts with more than 20 years of experience, Philter’s first-of-a-kind technology empowers responsible adults to partake in universally acceptable vaping behavior. Personal rights and personal choice to vape or not to vape are essential in a polite society.

Learning from the past.

The legal cannabis industry is still new, but we’re smart enough today to learn from the past and make the future better. Cannabis and ancillary businesses are not just looking for opportunities to provide what the Wild West provided (gold and the pick and shovel) they are looking to the future to solve what happens after the entire industry regulates.