Glass Pre-roll Tubes Vs. Compostable Pre-roll Tubes

Glass Pre-roll Tubes

With 91% of all petroleum plastics ending up in landfills, incinerated, shipped overseas, or littering our streets, mountains, and oceans. Eliminating single-use petroleum plastics is a significant step in the right direction.

The great thing about glass tubes is that they are reusable and infinitely recyclable. If you can legally implement a take-back program in your state for cannabis packaging, this is a great way to reuse the packaging. When the tube is no longer reusable, or there is no take-back program in your area, the tubes can be recycled infinitely. Before recycling, remember to remove the labels and wash out the container before throwing it in your recycle bin.

The average energy consumption to recycle one ton of glass is 15,900,000 Btu.

The downsides to glass are that it is heavy, fragile, and energy-intensive to recycle. On average, a glass pre-roll tube is 22.6g; this is two times heavier than a bioplastic alternative, making glass more expensive to ship per box. Glass can easily break during transport or, if dropped, increasing the overall costs and turnaround time. Glass Pre-roll Tubes cost between $0.60-$0.30 each, which may or may not include the lid.

Compostable Pre-roll Tubes

The great things about Compostable Bioplastic Pre-roll Tubes are that they are reusable and compostable in industrial facilities and sometimes backyard/home composts. Not all “compostable” products are accepted at your local composter, and some do not allow any bioplastics for composting. Check with your local industrial composter before sending it in. If you can send it to your local composter, this creates a circular economy for the tubes. Once composted, this material will help grow more plants. Who’s biomass can create more sustainable Pre-roll Tubes. This is also the case when you use a home/backyard compost. Check with the manufacturer to see if this is a proper disposal method for the tubes. The temperatures and microbes in an industrial setting differ significantly from your home compost.

The average energy consumption needed to compost one ton of material is 260,000 Btu in an industrial composting facility. Significantly less in-home/backyard composts. The weight of a compostable Pre-roll tube is 11g. Compared to the 22.6g of glass, the reduced weight will also reduce the shipping costs and carbon footprint of each box. Compostable Pre-roll Tubes cost $0.23-$0.30 each, with no additional lid needed.

Recap

Glass Pre-roll Tubes can be reused again and again. Bottle return programs are becoming more and more popular across the globe. Glass is also infinitely recyclable but energy-intensive to do so. The shipping costs and costs per unit are higher than bioplastics alternatives because of the weight. Clear glass tubes also allow light and UV degradation of the products inside to occur.

Compostable Pre-roll Tubes can be reused and home or industrially composted. This creates a circular economy vs. the linear. Take the waste economy of poisonous petroleum plastics. Bioplastics are not always accepted for composting, and industrial composters may not exist in your area. When composted in an industrial facility, they use less than 2% of the energy required to recycle glass and significantly less in a home compost. The average cost per compostable tube is also less than glass.

Winner

Compostable Pre-roll Tubes.

They are less expensive per tube, less expensive to ship, opaque, and use significantly less energy at the end of life.

"Together, we can end plastic pollution."