Black market fears are hampering cannabis waste recycling efforts in California

As American cannabis has grown from cottage industry to $25 billion-a-year commercial enterprise that employs 428,059 folks nationwide, the product that weed has become now often bears little resemblance from the product that used to be sold raw. Flower, once delivered in sandwich bags, now arrives wrapped in child-safety-locked, plastic-lined mylar pouches; every gram of hash seemingly needs its own glass jar, plastic lid, and cardboard box; and half-gram vape pens must often be dug from three times their own weight in display and security packaging before use. And while most of the outer packaging can be easily recycled, vaporizer cartridges themselves can be far more problematic to dispose of.