1. Is Marijuana Waste Dangerous?
Debra Oliver
Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County
NAHMMA NW Conference 2015
Photo credit:

2. Legalization November 2012
I 502 won 55 – 45.
Ended 75 years of prohibition.
Now legal: Washington & Colorado
Voted to legalize recreational use in 2015: Alaska, Oregon, and Washington DC
Coming up for vote in 2016: Nevada, California, Arizona, Maine, and Massachusetts
Marijuana Legalization– Laws or policies which make the possession and use of marijuana legal under state law.
Marijuana Decriminalization– Laws or policies adopted in a number of state and local jurisdictions which reduce the penalties for possession and use of small amounts of marijuana from criminal sanctions to fines or civil penalties. 
Medical Marijuana– State laws which allow an individual to defend him or herself against criminal charges of marijuana possession if the defendant can prove a medical need for marijuana under state law. 
Photo Credit:

3. Still Illegal at Federal Level
I-502 exempts no one from federal regulations and marijuana remains on the DEA’s list of Schedule I controlled substances.
According to federal law marijuana is a schedule 1 controlled substance and anyone may be prosecuted for possession.
The fact that marijuana is illegal federally matters to waste management and I’ll come around to this in a few moments.
Colorado and Washington governors received a memo from the US Dept of Justice. The DOJ will consider recreational marijuana in our states a low priority for their limited resources except for certain high priorities (e.g., selling to a minor).
Banks and credit cards fear violating federal law and do not yet work with cannabis operations, forcing this business to run on cash only.
Photo Credit: By James Montgomery Flagg ( [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

4. Jurisdictional Authority
The authority in Washington State is the Liquor Control Board. They govern producers, processors and retailers, quality assurance labs, and collect the taxes. (The Liquor Control Board is changing its name next month.)
They license cannabis operators, but its up to local jurisdictions to ensure cannabis operations run in accordance with local laws.
Producers = growers of cannabis plants
State total of 2 million canopy feet.
They sell the cannabis flower or bud directly to a retailer or a processor. They may also have a license to process their material.
Processors = manufacturers of products made with cannabis.
Everything from joints to cannabutter, hash oil, candies, drinks, etc.
In WA, nothing requiring temperature control is allowed because the health departments are unable to inspect. The WA Dept of Agriculture is contracted by LCB to inspect producers and processors along with the LCB inspectors.
Retailers = sell both the raw flower (bud) and the processed products to adults over 21 years old. Retailers may not produce or process.
Analytical Labs = require LCB approval to conduct QA (mycotoxins, pesticides), residual solvent analysis, and CBD & THC content
Cannabis

5. Guidance for Cannabis Operations
Update coming soon
Local jurisdictions created a guidance document to educate the industry about local regulations and other agencies about the industry. The industry actually cheered the officials who presented this rule book them.
Because the rules are changing rapidly and we keep learning, the guidebook will be updated this summer.

6. Marijuana Waste Disposal
WAC
Using this guidance, I’ll cover how these new industries dispose of their wastes.
I’ll briefly mention:
Waste water,
Traceability system,
Solid waste,
and my focus will be on dangerous wastes.

7. Waste Water Waste water is managed as it is in every other business.
All local regulations apply.
Here on the west side of the mountains – currently mostly indoor grows that use hydroponics, some aeroponics systems, some greenhouses in the works.
Types of processes generating waste water:
Hydroponics (nutrients)
Rinsate (reuse growing media, e.g., clay beads in photograph)
Water/Ice extractions
Water is often reused
Bubble hash is made using water and ice to extract the active ingredients from the plant.
Photo credit: Debra Oliver, IRAC

8. Traceability System
The LCB requires a traceability system along with extreme security measures to prevent diversion. Each plant is tagged in an RFID system. The tracking process includes 18 check-ins with the LCB through their traceability system – which is a database reached on the internet. Most growers are going above and beyond the LCB requirements.
When disposal needs to occur, operators must notify the LCB first and give LCB 72 hours to inspect. The waste waits for those 72 hours.
Track: Seed to Sale
Prevent Diversion
All licensees report:
Production Phases
Transportation
Destruction & Disposal
Sales
72-Hour Hold before Destruction
Photo Credit: Bob Strle –

9. Solid Waste
To prevent diversion, operators must destroy marijuana beyond reclamation before throwing it away. The LCB requires cannabis operations to grind up their marijuana solid waste with other wastes.
i.e.:
Mix 50:50 with compostable waste and compost OR Mix 50:50 with non-compostable waste and landfill
Photo credit: Debra Oliver, IRAC

10. Dangerous Waste (Washington)
Like any other business sector that generates process waste, most of it is unremarkable.
HID lights
Plastic
Lab Waste
Pesticides & Fertilizers
Non-Cannabis wastes in a marijuana operation are the same as those found in any other businesses.
When process waste does contain cannabis, this emerging industry faces a few problems with designation.
Cannabis plant itself is typically not DW unless contaminated by solvents
It IS DW if:
≥ 10% THC = WT02 according to book designation
If it displays any of the characteristics in WAC
 Waste designation is based on generator knowledge or sampling and lab analysis
Generators are only learning about the dangerous waste regulations and how to designate. Designation based on generator knowledge and previous research is limited. Research is limited because the federal government has prohibited it.
Photo Credit: wilmingtonfavs.com/2014/02/04/poll-nc-legalize-medical-marijuana/

11. Photo Credit: http://eatyourcannabis.com/cannabutter/
WA State Only Toxic
If we book designate THC:
If ≥ 10% THC = Washington State Only Toxic -- WT02
Includes:
Off-spec or spilled products, e.g., hash oil, some bud, etc.
Ingredients, e.g., cannabudder
No one I’m aware of has run a fish bioassay on marijuana.
Photo Credit:

12. Extracted Hash Oil
Hash Oil has a high THC content and if discarded would book designate as a WTO2 in WA
To make this, the processor extracts these resins from the plant material with an approved solvent or a mixture of approved solvents
Regulations require that oils contain less 500 parts per million of approved solvents
Photo Credit: Debra Oliver

13. THC Extractor
To extract THC and CBD from the flowers and leaves, processors use CO2, steam, ice water, pressing, food grade ethanol, glycerin or propylene glycol, or hydrocarbons: n-butane, isobutane, propane, heptane, or other solvents or gases approved by the board of at least 99% purity.
For gases and hydrocarbon solvents, professional grade closed-loop extractions systems designed to recover the solvents and meet all safety and fire code standards.
Our group was concerned about extraction waste made using hydrocarbon gas.
Photo Credit: strippercell.blogspot.com

14. THC Extraction Tubes
Before the process, the gas in the cylinder is weighed.
The extraction process passes the gas through the flowers and leaves, taking the resin with it. The gas is pushed with air back into the canister and weighed again for comparison with the original weight. The goal is no waste.
Photo Credit: forum.grasscity.com

15. Waste from Gas Extraction
Waste from the gas extraction process observed was dry. Nothing from it could pass through a paint filter. It was not an ignitable waste.
None of the solvents permitted by the LCB are F-listed.
The THC content had been extracted, so it wasn’t a toxic.
The extraction waste I’ve seen so far is a solid waste …
but we might have a need to take samples of some wastes to a lab to analyze for various characteristics.
Photo Credit: Debra Oliver

16. Designating THC-containing Waste is Dangerous in WA
Labs approved by the LCB to analyze cannabis products for residual solvents and quality assurance (e.g., mycotoxins and pesticides) are permitted to have THC standards and THC-containing materials on the premises
Labs that do analysis for waste designation have not yet been approved by the LCB so may not have THC on the premises, so cannot help profile waste for THC content or analyze THC-containing samples.
The question arose … if all of the THC has been extracted, is there any left? And is the waste still even marijuana?

17. What is Marijuana?
So… What is “marijuana”?
Photo Credit: ktrs.com

18. 21 U.S. Code § Definitions
(16) The term “marihuana” means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds or resin. Such term does not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination.
According to the feds, it’s the seeds, resins, and flowers of Cannabis sativa L, and their products.

19. a THC concentration greater than 0.3 percent
RCW Definitions.
(t) "Marijuana" or "marihuana" means all parts of the plant Cannabis, whether growing or not, with
a THC concentration greater than 0.3 percent
on a dry weight basis; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin.
The term does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant which is incapable of germination.
According to Washington State, marijuana is the seeds, resin, flower, and resulting products from Cannabis
with a THC concentration greater than 0.3 percent
What’s a THC concentration?

20. RCW Definitions.
(kk) "THC concentration" means percent of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content per dry weight of any part of the plant Cannabis, or per volume or weight of marijuana product, or the combined percent of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid in any part of the plant Cannabis regardless of moisture content.
And according to the Revised Code of Washington, THC concentration is the content of one specific cannabinoid or the combination of that cannabinoid and another in the plant or a product.
Delta 9 THC is the psychoactive component in cannabis
THCA is not psychoactive in the plant … until it undergoes decarboxylation – a heat process, like smoking or cooking – and then it converts to Delta 9 THC.

21. Is it Still Marijuana?
So I took a sample of extraction waste from a hydrocarbon gas extraction processor in Seattle and had it analyzed by an approved QA lab for THC content to find out if it still meets the definition of marijuana. Had the processor managed to extract all of the THC content?

22. Butane Extraction Waste
THCA
1.29%
D9THC
0.11%
Nope.
Delta-9 THC came in at only 0.11%, but the combined concentrations of Delta-9 THC and THCA came to 1.4%, meeting and exceeding the 0.3% THC concentration that defines “marijuana”, even after extraction by one of the most highly regarded extractors in the city.
So, at this point, we can’t do much analysis on the waste, because we jeopardize our labs, and we aren’t sure that if it is a hazardous waste, can a hauler take it across state lines?

23. Resources
Chapter WAC Marijuana Licenses, Application Process, Requirements, and Reporting:
WSLCB Frequently Requested Lists of Licensees, Products, Testing Labs, Sales Activity:

24. Resources
MRSC: Recreational Marijuana Ordinances across Washington:

25. Resources

26. Questions?
Debra Oliver Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County
Thank You!