While enrolled in the University of Colorado Boulder's MBA program, Sana Packaging was founded by Ron Basak Smith and James Eichner. It aims to revolutionize product packaging through its hemp-based solutions.
Ron approached me with an idea about how to improve cannabis packaging. Eichner said that while there have been many positive outcomes to cannabis legalization, packaging waste is one of the most detrimental.
Basak-Smith and Eichner were both awarded the prestigious university pitch competition. As a result, they decided to continue developing Sana after graduating from a business accelerator program in Spring 2017.
Eichner stated, "What began as a desire to explore new materials and address simple problems became a mission-driven business where the ultimate goal of design and development cannabis packaging for a circular economic system."
Sana Packaging is committed to sustainable solutions using 100% recycled ocean plastic and 100% hemp-based plastic.
Eichner called today's economic system incredibly wasteful. First, resources are used to produce a product and then dispose of it immediately.
Sana's circular economy aims to reduce waste and pollution "from material source to the end of the life cycle for products" and keep products and materials in service to ensure that materials are "reclaimed" to rehabilitate the natural world.
Eichner and Smith want to create tangible benefits, not just reduce negative environmental impacts. First, however, we must eliminate waste from the environment to make these products.
"When we completed the accelerator in 2017 and began working on this full time, we were still product development. "We had 3D printed prototypes for our products such as hemp pre-roll tubes and containers." Sana continued in this phase up to 2018, including finding a manufacturer willing to make these products. Hemp-based packaging is much less common.
In a six-month pilot, the company launched its first products in summer 2018. Sana was ready to open its doors to the public in January 2019. Sana planned to offer eight unique products in 2021.
Sustainability is the ultimate goal.
"I believe the cannabis industry is interested in our packaging. There is a great need for sustainable products as the cannabis industry expands rapidly. There is room for startups like ours in this market. Eichner says that the industry is willing to pay a premium for sustainable materials, even though they are expensive.
Sana's customers are primarily in North America. The majority of them are based in the US. There are also additional customers in Canada and Puerto Rico.
Image Credit: Ishan@seefromthesky
Image Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/4xmgrNUbyNA
Article credit to https://cbdhealthandwellness.net
