New York Bill Pushes Hemp Packaging for Cannabis Products
Proposed legislation from New York state Sen. Michelle Hinchey would direct regulators to support hemp-based packaging for cannabis products manufactured for the state’s upcoming legal cannabis industry.
New York’s upcoming adult-use cannabis industry could become a model of sustainable packaging under a bill that would make hemp the primary source of materials used to package regulated marijuana products. Under the bill from state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, the New York Cannabis Control Board would be directed to develop a plan to designate industrial hemp as the primary source of packaging materials for all cannabis products manufactured in the state.
“There is no other natural resource that offers the same environmental, agricultural, and economic potential as hemp. My bill will create a market, kickstarting the industry and moving New York State to the forefront in a way that will help us tackle the climate crisis, give our small farmers a competitive edge, and boost upstate economic development,” Hinchey, the chair of New York’s Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.
Bill Creates Program to Spur Innovation
Hinchey drafted the bill to support the creation of a sustainable industrial hemp industry that provides economic opportunity for the state’s independent farmers and small businesses. The measure also directs the state’s Office of Cannabis Management and the Empire State Development to establish a Sustainable Cannabis Packaging Incubator Program to offer financial incentives to farmers and entrepreneurs who contribute to the development and use of environmentally friendly, hemp-based packaging materials.
“What we have done is directed the state’s new cannabis control board to develop a plan so that industrialized hemp can be used as a packaging material,” Hinchey told reporters after introducing the bill. “That way we won’t use plastics, will be using something that is biodegradable, that will support our farmers, specifically New York State farmers – small- and mid-sized family farms with a new product and create the demand.”
Participants in the incubator program will be challenged to create cannabis product packaging that is compostable and biodegradable and made from at least 30% hemp. Up to 70% of the remaining material could be sourced from recycled plastic, which is not necessarily biodegradable or compostable. Hemp materials used for the program must be purchased from an eligible New York farm, business, or individual. Eligible suppliers include those designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as small farms, which generate less than $250,000 in annual revenue.