Marijuana packaging trends are now becoming hyper-focused on the eco-friendly side. Although it’s a “green industry” (pun intended), it has never actually been a sustainable industry until recently.

In a 2020 study by Trivium Packaging, 74% of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable packaging. As an added benefit, by including your environmental awareness in your brand’s message, you’ll win the hearts of consumers! Many business owners began to look for a solution, and some have come to eco-friendly marijuana packaging. From our perspective, it’s a great first step to help to reduce environmental impact. Wondering where to start or lacking inspiration?

Top 6 marijuana packaging design ideas to be eco-friendly

Returnable packaging

Returnable marijuana packaging and reusable packaging is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative. This will work best for brands that have an extensive flow of goods with a decent number of distribution points.

By using returnable weed packaging bags or containers, you can significantly reduce the impact on the environment. Once your customer finishes the product, they can send it back to where they bought it. By then, you can collect, then reuse these marijuana packages after proper cleaning & disinfecting. When applying returnable design, you should think about making it collapsible as well. The use of collapsible packaging makes the return freight a minor cost factor. However, to successfully implement this system, you must have a selection of distribution points. This way, you can keep track of your packaging and minimize any losses. Because most cannabis packaging has to have to be childproof, there would be a system in place with these returnables to add the childproofing to the package to make sure it is still compliant.

Minimalist packaging design

How could minimalistic design help reduce stress on the environment, you might ask? In fact, by reducing materials, paint & printing, you’re creating much less pollution. Moreover, simple yet effective packaging also helps with catching customers' attention. These days, we’re seeing more and more people look for a professional look on their marijuana products. With cannabis packaging, you should make it clearly states the purpose of the product it holds, while remaining simple and clean. Minimalist design works to emphasize the medicinal qualities of the cannabis it features. By approaching your packaging as "Less Is More" you are saving on using more inks, more plastic or paper, and providing a design that not only is interesting but also limits resources, therefore, having much less of an impact on the environment.  

Mono-materials

As both the industry grows and global demands,  mono-material is the solution for more eco-friendly marijuana packaging. These materials eliminate the need for material separation and the risks of tainting a recycling stream. This means that it’s making recyclability easier to achieve. However, the use of mono-materials in other industries has been somewhat restricted. This is mostly due to its inability to achieve the same high protection barriers as multilayer films. For this reason, brands can only concentrate on using mono-material on low-moisture products, which suits cannabis products really well. Brands can consider incorporating this material into their marijuana products such as edibles, confectionaries, or pulps.

Biodegradable & compostable packaging solutions

This is clearly what pops into people’s minds when they first think about sustainable marijuana packaging. Since most of these packaging are plant-based or fossil fuel materials, its end-of-life disposal is environmentally friendly. Moreover, it could provide the earth with nutrients once it is fully broken down. But there is a problem, regardless of its benefits, that all compostable packaging must be tested carefully before being approved. Most of those tests are to ensure its disintegration, biodegradation, and non-toxic impact, and how to dispose of them in the correct practice.

So if you’re thinking about using biodegradable materials for your marijuana packaging, you must let customers know how they should dispose of them as well. Or else, it’ll still harm the environment if it is simply tossed in the trash vs recycled.

Plantable packaging

This is probably the latest game-changing packaging material. It’s clearly really smart to include plant seeds into paper packaging, but it also limited those marijuana packaging to a few selections of products only.

Zero-waste plantable packaging is made with post-consumer materials embedded with seeds. By using these materials, it will definitely show your eco-commitment and promote corporate sustainability.

Since people can actually plant those packaging instead of tossing them away, customers can grow something they can actually enjoy like flowers, herbs, or veggies. What a fresh way to make a green choice while adding value to your products!

Like we’ve just said, plantable packaging is ideal for being the utmost packaging. It could be small boxes for marijuana cosmetics and other lightweight items. We’ve also seen some using this material as product wraps and toppers, or shredded as box filler.

Edible packaging

It’s the blooming time for edible packaging, and we really mean it. Concern about plastic waste is growing globally. Therefore, within a couple of years, you’ll see many other industries began to hop on this trend and make use of it. Some most common items that wind up as litter somehow could link to the marijuana industry: wrappers, bottles, droplets containers, and more. People are developing films and packaging material from milk protein, starch, or even seaweed. Even if some packaging is not really “edible” or tastes good, they really help to reduce the plastic footprint. Edible marijuana packaging that we recommend using at the moment is mostly wrappers and protective films. Higher levels of edible packaging are in development, so we can hope for a brighter future here. Because there are so many regulations on packaging, this solution may not be an option where your business is located but is definitely an exciting one.  

Sum it all up!

We understand that there are many businesses that would use this packaging material as a source to boost users' attention. However, if you really think about being sustainable, you should keep other brand elements, and even missions to align with. Using sustainable marijuana packaging obviously has its limitations, so adjusting and testing are a must in most cases. There will always be the right solution for your business if you invest enough time & effort into it. Because there are so many regulations on packaging, not all of these options would work in your area. It is best to check with a cannabis lawyer to see what is permitted in your state.

Another problem with eco-friendly marijuana packaging you should know is its cost. Currently, sustainable packaging does cost more than traditional packaging however, as more companies show interest, we are hopeful the cost will level down to become competitive with more traditional options such as plastic.

We hope that this article could act as a guideline leading you to a more sustainable option for your marijuana packaging. If you’re having the intention to read some more about the cannabis industry, you can check out other blogs right here. We’re now having content that covers marijuana branding, web design and so much more.