Due to it’s short crop cycle, cannabis growers unfortunately go through a lot of plastic planters. A company called Medicoir aims to change that with their biodegradable plastic containers. Coir is a type of substrate that is used in many agricultural applications. Medicoir is a professional coir grower of media for the commercial soft fruit, vegetable markets and the cannabis industry. They aim to bring high quality, innovative coir substrate solutions to the commercial cannabis industry.
“The most popular product we produce for the medicinal cannabis industry are 10 L Open Top Containers,” says Kalum Balasuriya, managing director at Medicoir, “These blocks are compressed at our facilities and come ready packed in their own poly-pot, which can be unfolded before hydrating the coir block inside.”
The biodegradable plastic containers are broken down using EcoPure. This organic additive causes plastic to biodegrade through a series of chemical and biological processes when disposed of in a microbe-rich environment. The microbes consume the polymer chains which breaks down the chemical bonds of the container.
The biodegradation process can yield some by-products which is determined by the disposal environment but are non-toxic. Some are even economically valuable for energy for example, methane.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this alternative to growers who are looking for more environmentally friendly growing choices,” continues Balasuriya. “It is very important to us that we work in a way that looks after our planet and I feel this is a very positive step to take.”