Those candles are part of a revived recycling program that Canna West Seattle (WSB sponsor) is relaunching starting today. The program is the resumption of a pre-pandemic commitment, and also an initiative led by Canna’s owner to encourage change in her entire industry. Here’s the announcement explaining the return of Canna Collect:

Back in 2019, Canna West Seattle launched a one-of-a-kind recycling program to collect all cannabis and hemp packaging sold through both its stores. With an incentivized program called Canna Collect, customers were encouraged to bring back their packaging in exchange for loyalty points and discounts within the Culture Shop (Canna’s sister lifestyle store).

Behind the scenes, the team putting the program together intended to collect the packaging and commission an artist who could convert the materials into a massive sculpture. The sculpture was meant to help raise awareness as a symbol of the damaging environmental impact the cannabis industry is responsible for. What they learned was that the various materials collected actually could not be safely merged. Much of it couldn’t even be recycled, Mylar being the number-one pollutant.

The program resonated with thousands of customers donating monthly, but due to unexpected regulations and roadblocks, the actual result was just collecting and storing empty cannabis packaging. Canna worked hard to find innovative companies to potentially partner with – companies that could possibly find use for or convert the materials – but had no luck.

Just as the program was really gaining momentum through community support and national media coverage, the pandemic hit, and everything came to an instant halt. Priorities shifted to keep the staff safe and serve the community, while the recycling program was put on the back burner until further notice.

Stalled for an unpredictable amount of time, the program was always intended to be resumed once everyone felt it was safe again to do so. Now almost 3 years later, the Canna Collect recycling program is relaunching with a new aim.

“We desperately need industry change to decrease industry waste.” says Maryam Mirnateghi, CEO and Founder of Canna West Seattle. “If climate is truly a priority to our representatives, then they need to look at the regulations that they are imposing on the cannabis industry that are directly impacting the environment and hurting small business.”

The original end goal was to bring awareness to the pollution cannabis packaging is causing, and to motivate industry leaders and state representatives to work together to change regulations and create business and environmentally friendly alternatives. It is meant to make customers more aware of what kind of cannabis packaging they are purchasing their products in, and in turn, to create more eco-conscious consumers.

“While we’ve had to make some modifications to our recycling program, our end goal still remains the same,” Mirnateghi continues. “Only now we’ve partnered with Northwest Island Botanicals, who is upcycling the glass jars we collect into therapeutic candles that will be sold at our Culture Shop. A portion of those proceeds will be donated to customer-choice local charities. In addition, we will be encouraging and helping our customers to contact our legislators.”

To learn more about the Canna Collect Recycling Program, visit cannawestseattle.com. There you’ll find details about what packaging will now be accepted, who to contact in Olympia which includes a simple copy and paste letter to send to your local politicians. Keep an eye out for future petitions or initiatives! “It’s time to bring the cannabis community together to create real environmental change,” Mirnateghi concludes.

Canna West Seattle is at 5440 California SW; the Culture Shop is across the street at 5435 California SW.