Waste Disposal Certification

Cannabis waste can be disposed of in a permitted landfill, through incineration, composting, utilizing in-vessel digestion, etc., in addition, to organic waste generation, there’s durable childproof packaging for hemp and cannabis-related products. Government regulations vary based on each legal jurisdiction cannabis operations are licensed in, so understanding these classifications is essential for compliance, ensuring industry safety, and legal waste disposal.

Discover various classifications of cannabis waste which can be categorized as either hazardous or non-hazardous and is a crucial delineation determined by government regulators based on specific criteria. If it is non-hazardous, some jurisdictions require cannabis waste to be made unusable before it is disposed of by mixing the cannabis waste with other non-hazardous waste (ex. food, yard scraps, etc.) until the mixture reaches a certain cannabis percentage (by weight).

Anything containing Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or that comes into contact with THC must be destroyed and combined with an aggregate material until it is “unusable and unrecognizable.” Currently, there is no universal definition for “unusable and unrecognizable” and requirements can vary between cannabis regulators so, at a minimum, cannabis waste must be removed or separated from any packaging/container, rendered unrecognizable, and 100% unusable.

With cannabis legalization, government regulators in legal jurisdictions require a well-maintained waste management program by imposing strict rules from “seed-to-sale” and licensed operations must report all cannabis waste disposal activities. Learning how the definition of cannabis waste may vary from industry regulators to government, yet it is generally accepted that cannabis waste is “any material used or that comes in contact with cannabis during the cultivation, production, manufacturing, or retail process that must always be disposed of”.

If cannabis waste is determined to fall into one of these specific categories, then it must be disposed of according to every government regulation for those different classifications. In each jurisdiction where cannabis is legal, there is one business licensing entity while each government entity has multiple regulatory bodies with varying requirements for cannabis waste disposal methods.

Learn examples of cannabis waste include unused buds, expired edibles, plant trimmings, empty cannabis packaging, etc., and how regulators may treat it as medical or hazardous waste. Some of the most common cannabis-related government violations (ex. Environmental Protection Agency, etc.) are due to improper or inadequate documentation of cannabis waste and/or its removal.