What makes packaging “sustainable”?

 

Is any material really what we think it is?

  • No. We know why. More than 7 different types that all require us to burn petrochemicals. Low rates of recycling. A trash mount the size of Rhode Island in the Ocean. You know the sticking points by now…

  • Not quite. It sounds better on paper but it’s not the silver bullet some make it out to be. It might get recycled more than plastic, but producing aluminum creates massive volumes of caustic red mud called bauxite residue (pH 13) that live for hundreds of years in the environment and often cause mud slides…

  • Bio-plastic? Biodegradable plastic? Compostable plastic? Are they the same? It wasn’t clear to us either, so we set out to get answers. See more below…

Gone are the days when cannabis consumption was limited to idle recreation. Today it is a multi-billion dollar industry with revenues that exceed that of the NFL. For many people, the plant stands for progress, sustainability, and in some cases even a cure. Flow Kana has been at the forefront of this, championing values like authenticity, sustainability and heritage.

At Flow Kana, living up to these values meant taking a serious look at our supply chain and what we could do to improve it. In 2017, before denigrating plastic was cool, we set an ambitious plan to build a campaign around ditching plastic by building an entry level brand that would be as sustainable as it was accessible.

We launched a first in the category: a fully biodegradable jar from head to toe under a brand we created called Roots. The secret is that any material claiming to be “compostable” can’t actually compost in your back yard bin - it has to use one of these facilities to break down under very specific conditions. Very few people in the US have access to these facilities, let alone curbside collection. Without one, “compostable” materials have to be put in the landfill - they are impossible to recycle. With Roots, we were in a unique position to raise awareness about this issue and offer a fully biodegradable brand, as the California cannabis industry is constrained only within the borders of the state and we have more industrial composting facilities than anywhere else in the nation.

What’s inside matters too. Sungrown only. No flower grown unnecessarily in warehouses that strains the grid and creates a massive carbon footprint. In Colorado for example, indoor growing generates 2.6 million tons of emissions every year - the equivalent to what comes out of the tailpipes of 520,000 cars.

We partnered with Recology in San Francisco to ensure the Roots container, the label and the seal were all engineered to degrade without impact to the environment and compatible with state facilities. That meant using non-GMO corn in a PLA base and a label printed on FSC-certified paper. The jar is not just a delivery mechanism but synonymous with the brand and its ethos: no B.S. greenwashing. The result? A tongue-in-cheek way to connect with our target audience to communicate the truth behind single use containers and marketing hype.