LIVE“Dare to be bold, Canna-Waste-Not”
finding new ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. The Cannabis section will be extending the life of the plant from waste, to a new product as an absorbent for emergency response spills. Currently non-organic materials are used as the industry standard absorbents for hazardous material clean up operations and are contributing to landfills. Utilizing cannabis plant material as the absorbent removes many harmful contaminants from the waste cycle. This project will also be creating green jobs and a greener future for our fellow Angelenos.
Please list the organizations collaborating on this proposal.
Hemp Processing Partners
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
Climate and Environment
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
City of Los Angeles
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Pilot or new project, program, or initiative
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
The City of Los Angeles has a goal to eliminate landfill operations by 2050. One of the issues contributing to this item is plant waste materials from the cannabis cultivation facilities. The City of LA has determined that the plant material can be repurposed and used for clean up projects that occur within the City’s jurisdiction. Allowing funding for this project can kickstart a large and ever growing waste issue. The City may be the City’s largest customer and user of a green and innovative product. This project will also create several green jobs per location.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
With the help of the grant, this pilot project will allow the city to use existing plant waste material, to create the absorbent material needed for emergency cleanup operations. The funds will go to investing in the pilot project’s infrastructure and machinery needed to break down the plant material and process it to be an absorbent. With the success of this project, it can turn into a full scale operation that will create new green jobs for Angelenos.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
With the success of this project, the City will be a better steward of our environment, eliminating the city’s dependence on non-organic materials used to bio-cleanup operations. The expansion of this project will also lead to the increase of new green jobs for the City of Los Angeles.
What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?
The success of this project will be directly measured in the reduction of waste materials generated by the City. Reusing an existing waste material not only diminishes greenhouse gasses, but we reduce our carbon footprint as well . We create a circular economy by not having to introduce new raw materials into the cycle. By generating our own absorbent this will help reduce the cost the city incurs for cleanup operations, taking further steps to self-sufficiency.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 10
Indirect Impact: 3,970,000