As Canada’s cannabis industry matures, one challenge continues to loom large: waste. From multilayered plastic containers and glass jars to vape cartridges and outer boxes, the environmental toll of cannabis packaging remains an unresolved issue.

While Health Canada mandates strict packaging requirements for safety and compliance, these often translate into materials that are not easily recyclable or biodegradable.

Yet, some companies and individuals are stepping up to address the problem. One of the most prominent grassroots initiatives is the Purple Bin program, launched by Peter Miller and Tracey Oliver, owners of Purple Hills. Far more than a symbolic gesture, their program is taking tangible steps to tackle the growing waste problem head-on.

“The Purple Bin program, we describe it more as a collection program,” explains Miller. “We find the highest and best use of the things we collect.”

Not limited to just their own packaging, Purple Hills accepts a broad range of cannabis-related waste, including cartridges, all-in-ones, and anything from the cannabis waste ecosystem. According to Miller, they’ve collected over 20,000 pounds of material to date.

With bins placed in approximately 1,000 dispensaries across Ontario, the program has seen enthusiastic uptake. Dispensaries receive a prepaid shipping label, print it, attach it to the bin, and mail it back at Purple Hills’ expense.

“Once we receive it, we do a sort and direct it to the right place,” Miller says.

What began as a hopeful experiment has grown rapidly. Purple Hills anticipated potential success, but they didn’t expect the scale it reached so quickly. They estimate the annual cost of operating the program is now around $200,000.

“It’s really blown up fast but also gotten expensive fast,” he notes, though feedback from dispensaries, customers, and even the Ontario Cannabis Store’s social impact team has been overwhelmingly positive.

Despite the program’s momentum, Miller is realistic about the need for broader collaboration.

“We can’t solve this on our own,” he says. He added that there are logical partners in this venture—groups like the OCS, hardware suppliers, and, in the most grandiose vision, even expanding the program to include vape pods and other products from the e-cigarette sector.

Is there anybody out there?

Meanwhile, other brands like Coterie are tackling sustainability from the design stage, working to reduce waste before it’s even created.

“Coterie packaging is made from backyard compostable bio-polymers known as PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates),” says Spencer Gooderham, VP of Sales and Operations at Coterie Brands. “These materials break down naturally in 12–18 months in your home compost pile, leaving behind no micro-plastic particulates.”

For Coterie, sustainability is a core principle—not just a marketing feature.

“From our cultivation to our packaging to our merchandise itself, we pride ourselves in being sustainable from seed to sale,” Gooderham says. “It certainly requires additional effort and expense. With limited packaging suppliers and increasingly costly inputs, maintaining the supply chain has been a challenge, but one we welcome with open arms.”

While not every consumer prioritizes eco-friendly packaging, those who do have taken notice.

“Our sustainability initiatives have helped create loyal fans of our brand,” he adds. “They can enjoy the exceptional quality of our craft cannabis products and feel good about the purchasing decision they’ve made.”

Coterie is also pioneering more responsible vaping options. “We’ve brought to market one of the most environmentally-friendly disposable vapes,” Gooderham says. “It features a removable, recyclable battery housed in a biodegradable shell made of corn stover.”

But as innovative as these efforts are, the broader cannabis ecosystem still lacks cohesive recycling infrastructure—something TerraCycle is well aware of.

“Sustainability continues to evolve in Canada,” says Tom Szaky, CEO and Founder of TerraCycle. “Many companies are exploring recyclable, refillable, and compostable designs. These innovations are encouraging, but the systems to collect and process them aren’t always in place yet.”

While TerraCycle’s cannabis programs are currently concentrated in the U.S., Szaky sees clear potential—and urgency—for similar solutions in Canada. In the U.S., TerraCycle works with cannabis companies such as Curaleaf and Trulieve to collect and recycle packaging that would otherwise be sent to landfill or incineration, including flexible plastics, pre-roll tubes, and multi-material containers.

“One of the biggest opportunities for the cannabis industry is to make packaging easier to recycle—either by using curbside-accepted materials or by expanding access to specialized solutions like ours,” Szaky explains. “There’s also a real opportunity to reduce waste through reuse.”

Szaky sees great promise in reuse systems such as Loop, TerraCycle’s global reuse platform, which collaborates with brands to create durable, refillable packaging. He believes the cannabis industry, with its repeated purchases and established in-store retail network, is well-positioned to pilot and scale such systems.

Still, the sector’s regulatory complexity presents challenges.

“Child-resistant features, mixed-material packaging, and residue contamination make even recyclable materials difficult for municipal systems to process,” Szaky says. “We need more industry-wide collaboration to simplify designs, choose better materials, and educate consumers clearly on what can and can’t be recycled.”

A sustainable future, one step at a time

Despite meaningful efforts from leaders such as Purple Hills, Coterie, and TerraCycle, the Canadian cannabis industry is still in the early stages of addressing its waste problem. From compostable materials to take-back programs and refillable systems, the solutions exist, but they require alignment, investment, and infrastructure to scale.

The good news? The momentum is growing. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware, brands are getting more innovative, and environmental stewardship is becoming a key differentiator. The path to a circular cannabis economy won’t be easy, but with the right mix of creativity, collaboration, and commitment, it’s within reach.