Every new industry has it’s false starts, failed business ventures, and competition from operators that skirt the regulations. Growing marijuana requires the use of pesticides, plant nutrients and plant growth modifiers/regulators. Cannabis Grow Facilities that go out of business, have catastrophic losses from fires or business that are set up outside of the regulatory framework will oftentimes abandon what is possibly hazardous waste when they vacate the premises. This has become a problem for health departments who are oftentimes left “holding the bag” and who find the need to efficiently identify all of the products/wastes that are abandoned in the wake of a business failure. The products/wastes left behind must by law be considered as hazardous waste until otherwise identified. This presentation will introduce a solution to the need for efficient identification of wastes found at a Cannabis Grow Facility. The solution is a qualitative chemical analysis scheme that employs wet chemistry using the commercially available HazCat Kit. This presentation will quickly demonstrate the use of the HazCat Kit on various Cannabis Grow Facility pesticides/nutrient solutions and their identification/hazard classification.

Cannabis grow facilities: Identification and handling of hazardous wastes, a problem for Environmental Health Departments

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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