Eco Friendly Dispensary

In an industry where the adjective “green” is commonly used, many people assume that environmental consciousness simply comes with the territory. Unfortunately, running an eco-friendly dispensary is anything but a certainty—in fact, it comes with a fair amount of legwork.

Because cannabis is still not federally legal, dispensaries are ineligible to take advantage of tax credits and other incentives made available by the federal government. That means that an environmentally conscious dispensary is left to foot the bill for everything from their LED light bulbs all the way up to new HVAC systems with little to no assistance.

With all of this in mind, the obvious question is, “how can a dispensary afford to be eco-friendly at all?”

At Life Flower, we don’t pretend that prioritizing the environment is easy (or economical), but we feel that it’s our duty as global citizens to keep our footprint as minimal as possible, and there are a number of ways we achieve that goal.

Offsetting and Minimize our Environmental Impact

BOULDER MARIJUANA ENERGY IMPACT OFFSET FUND

The reality is there’s no way to run a business in the modern world without leaving some carbon footprint in our wake. Because we recognize this fact, we contribute to the Boulder Marijuana Energy Impact Offset Fund each quarter.Boulder County estimates that a facility such as ours contributes somewhere in the neighborhood of 43,731 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere per month. The purpose of the Energy Impact Offset Fund is to bolster renewable energy sources so that dispensaries like ours can draw the energy we must necessarily use in order to stay in business from more sustainable sources.Though our contributions to this fund aren’t apparent to every customer who walks through our doors, they’re an important component of our commitment to being an environmentally consciousness dispensary with the world and the community in mind.

LIGHT BULB RECYCLING

Beyond this attempt to offset our footprint, there are a number of measures that Life Flower Dispensary takes to minimize our environmental impact every day. Dispensaries use massive amounts of light bulbs for grow operations, as well as simply keeping the facilities generally well-lit. The bulbs are made with glass, tungsten, iron, and other elements which go to waste if they are thrown away once a bulb burns out—that’s why Life Flower recycles bulbs by weight and by the foot, so the materials can be repurposed for future use.

LOCALLY SOURCED SOIL, NUTRIENTS, MICROBES & FERTILIZERS

Not only is Life Flower an organically focused dispensary, but we also uphold healthful practices that benefit the local economy as well as the environment.It is common practice in the cannabis industry to import both soil and nutrients for grow operations, but let’s take a moment to assess all of the CO2 that Life Flower would be creating in a roundabout way if we chose to do that. Obviously, it would require burning fossil fuels in order to ship soil and nutrients to us, but what about all of the energy required during the shipping process as well, such as at weigh stations? Even further down the line, what about the additional asphalt that would need to be added to roadways due to increased traffic?This may seem like an extreme example, but every choice has a ripple effect, which is why we locally source soil and nutrients as well as microbes and fertilizers. This assures us that our carbon footprint is minimal and allows us to invigorate Colorado’s economy.

RECYCLING & REPURPOSING

One forward-facing way that Life Flower Dispensary is maximizing our eco-friendly effort is with a recycling program for clients. Customers who find themselves drowning in single-use plastic containers from trips to the dispensary can bring them in, to Life Flower to be recycled; while there, customers may take note of the unusual counters at the recreational side of the dispensary.These counters aren’t just interesting to look at, they have a great story, too—they’re made of repurposed pine beetle-kill wood. Colorado natives are aware of the ravages pine beetles have caused in the Rockies, killing thousands of trees and leaving mountains of dry kindling ready to burst into flames. By repurposing that wood in a productive way, Life Flower can (in some small measure) reduce the threat for fires posed by beetle-kill wood, and therefore bring down the environmental risk posed by forest fires.

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In an overarching way, we work hard at Life Flower to negotiate a balance between providing the best possible resource for high-quality marijuana products and serving as environmental stewards. Though running an eco-friendly dispensary is not always easy, it’s an integral part of our business. We were recently featured in an article by CNBS as one of the best Dispensaries in Denver! Our large organic selection and eco friendly dispensary practices truly set us apart and we’re humbled to be recognized! Check out the list of essential local tips for Colorado cannabis consumers.

To learn more about our environmental practices or the products we offer, call Life Flower today at 720-389-7442!