Newsweed / Cannabis news / Cannabis in Canada

Canada: a student plans to reuse cannabis industry waste to renovate native habitat

Published

7 years ago

16 April 2019

The Canadian cannabis industry produces an astronomical amount of waste, and has yet to develop alternatives for reusing it. Tons of organic matter are burned or taken to landfill when they could be used. This non-ecological waste management has a significant impact on the environment as the industry grows.

ADVERTISING

Zaffia Laplante, a young indigenous entrepreneur and student, is looking to recycle this waste into building materials, enabling indigenous communities to renovate their homes. These communities live in insalubrious conditions that are hazardous to their health. Zaffia Laplante's innovative project has both an ecological and a social perspective.

Waste management in the Canadian cannabis industry

The Canadian cannabis industry focuses on the production and sale of flowers. The rest of the plant (leaves, stems, roots) is considered waste. According to the Vancouver Sun, By 2020, this waste could represent 6,000 tonnes a year. Its destruction is subject to strict regulations: it must be odorless and unrecognizable, which means it must be mixed with other materials or burned. They are usually incinerated, shredded, dissolved in vinegar or mixed in cat litter.

As well as representing a cost for manufacturers (landfill fees, obligation to provide witnesses and cameras, storage conditions), the failure to recycle this organic material represents an enormous waste of raw material. Indeed, the plant parts considered as waste are typically those used by the European hemp industry. The fibers extracted from hemp stalks are used to manufacture textiles and hemp concrete (an ecological alternative to cement concrete)

The problem of waste management seems to be reversed on both sides of the Atlantic. What is considered waste in Canada (stalks, leaves, roots) is considered raw material in Europe, and what is considered the product in Canada (the flower) is considered waste in Europe. In fact, European hemp growers are obliged to destroy hemp flowers. Initiatives are being developed in France to valorize this «waste» in a hemp wellness sector centered around CBD extracted from the flowers.

ADVERTISING

The housing crisis in indigenous communities and the Zaffia Laplante project

Canada's indigenous communities are currently experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis. A large proportion of their population lives in unhealthy conditions that encourage the development of bacterial diseases and lung infections. Communities lack the funds to renovate their homes, which are invaded by mold. This is not a new problem, but this year it has prompted some communities, including the well-known First Nation to declare a state of health emergency.

Ottawa has taken up the issue. The government has convened a task force to assess the extent of the problem and propose solutions. Funds are to be allocated to a long-term plan for the renovation of indigenous housing. In the meantime, indigenous communities continue to live in mold and extreme temperatures. It was to find a sustainable solution to this problem that Zaffia Laplante set up her company Hempenergy and plans to reuse waste from the cannabis industry in the manufacture of insulating materials.

Zaffia Laplante is a student at Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario and a member of the indigenous community. Metis Nation. As a result of her project, she was accepted into the Royal Bank of Canada and to receive 450 000$CA . She is currently competing for the Hult Prize in Melbourne; a prize that rewards students who develop ideas to solve contemporary challenges.