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Kindness3D Aims To Turn ‘Wasteful’ Pot Packaging Into Prosthetics

Since legaization, there have been many complaints about bulky packaging.

After marijuana was legalized in Canada on Oct. 17, many people didn't hesitate to call out product packaging that they deemed bulky and excessive.

Now, a man in Halifax, N.S. is looking to flip that negative into a positive by using the plastic lids the cannabis comes in to create prosthetic limbs for people who can't afford them.

Greg MacLean, who picked up some legal cannabis at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation last week, was shocked to see how much packaging was used for four grams of weed: two plastic containers, two cardboard boxes, and clear plastic casing, all enclosed in a brown paper bag.
The Canadian Press
Greg MacLean, who picked up some legal cannabis at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation last week, was shocked to see how much packaging was used for four grams of weed: two plastic containers, two cardboard boxes, and clear plastic casing, all enclosed in a brown paper bag.

Jake Boudreau, founder of Kindness3D, says he is aims to use the lids to make prosthetic limbs for children.

"We just noticed that there was an obscene amount of waste," Boudreau told CBC Radio. "To me it seemed incredibly wasteful. It was actually frustrating for me as a consumer."

The lids are partially non-recyclable and are bulky because they must follow Health Canada guidelines that say marijuana packaging must be tamper-proof, child-resistant and prevent contamination, according to the Toronto Star.

Boudreau's organization uses 3D printing to make the limbs, after using a modified paper shredding to cut the lids into small enough pieces for the devices to use.

The NSLC Cannabis Store on Clyde Street in Halifax on Oct. 17, 2018.
Canadian Press
The NSLC Cannabis Store on Clyde Street in Halifax on Oct. 17, 2018.

Kindness3D also started a petition for the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission to start collecting the lids for them.

"We are asking the people of Nova Scotia to stand with us, and set aside your plastic lids from cannabis purchases so that we may use them to build an artificial limb for someone in need," the change.org page reads.

Using other plastics, Kindness3D has already given a prosthetic hand to a woman in Brazil and another to a girl in Costa Rica, Candid Chronicle reported. Boudreau is also working on an arm for a four-year-old in California.

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