In-store container and packaging recycling program
Packaging: A Shared Responsibility.
The SQDC is committed to encouraging more sustainable packaging practices, focusing on reducing weight, recycling, and recovering materials to help limit its environmental footprint.
With this in mind, we launched our Container and Packaging Recovery Program in all our stores in 2020. This program, which complements municipal recycling services, aims to divert as much material as possible from landfills.
Progress in Action
Thanks to our customers’ participation, 5.6% of packaging from products sold was recovered in 2024–2025 — on top of what was redirected through municipal recycling programs.
We’re also working closely with producers to help improve their packaging practices. By encouraging the use of more responsible materials, the proportion of packaging meeting our eco-responsibility criteria rose from 16% in 2023 to 79% in 2025.
Check out our Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP) for more details on our initiatives.
Why bring your containers and packaging back to the store?
Because some cannabis containers aren’t accepted in regular curbside recycling! Due to legal safety requirements around cannabis products, certain containers and packaging need to be sorted before they can be recycled. That’s why it’s important to return them to an SQDC store — it’s the only way to make sure they’re properly recycled.
What can be recycled at home?
All containers and packaging sold by the SQDC—except cans and bottles—can be returned to our stores as part of our recycling program. That said, some containers can also be placed in your curbside recycling bin. Find out what can go in your municipal recycling.
How to take part?
It’s easy:
- Empty your containers of any leftover cannabis and remove the humidity control pack.
- Take the empty containers to any SQDC store.
- Place the containers in the recycling bins provided for the purpose.
Every action counts when giving a second life to materials and reducing our collective impact.
Whatever they’re made from and with a few exceptions, all product packages sold at the SQDC, including tubes, jars, bags and vials, can be returned to an SQDC store.
The exception
Cans and bottles
Ready-to-drink product cans and bottles are part of the Québec deposit system and should be returned to an official drop-off location.
Vapes and cartridges
You can return vape batteries and cartridges, whether empty or full, at any Recycle Your Vapes drop-off location for proper recycling, To find the drop-off location nearest you, visit the program website. DO NOT put vape batteries and cartridges in the cannabis package recycling bins in SQDC stores.
Vaping devices and their component parts contain hazardous chemical products that can contaminate the environment and even cause fires if improperly disposed of.
Life after the SQDC: the journey of cannabis packaging
The containers and packaging you bring back to the store are collected by our partner Metro Green at the same time as cannabis product deliveries to the store. This strategy helps reduce the program’s environmental impact, since the trucks transporting the empty packaging are already making this trip.
Once there is enough volume to fill a transport truck, the packaging is sent mainly to Défi Polyteck in Sherbrooke, where the materials are sorted by their composition — that is, by type of material (plastic numbers). Our main program partner, Go Zéro, also has facilities in Magog where sorting takes place. They are responsible for proper material sorting to ensure it can be recycled.
The sorted material groups are then sent to a recycling facility for the densification stage. This is where materials are washed, densified, and transformed so they can be reused to create new products.
What happens to the packaging?
Go Zéro and its partners can then recycle the packaging into either plastic resin or a blend of soft plastics and polymers.
The recycled resin is used to make new plastic shelving or storage bins. The soft plastic blend is sent to Everest Plastik, where it is turned into durable plastic pallets for the agriculture sector. Whenever possible, broken plastic pallets are recycled into new pallets.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s what the process looks like:
Plastics are separated in a basin before being shredded. Dense plastics sink to the bottom while lighter plastics float and move to another conveyor.
Once the dense plastics are shredded, they can be further separated by an optical sorting machine. After sorting, they are transformed into granules, ready for reuse.
Soft plastics are processed and blended through a thermokinetic process, meaning heat transfer.
Since its customers are the first drivers of change in this chain of environmental responsibility, the SQDC counts on them to help bring this program to life and contribute to protecting the environment.
Together, we’re making our industry greener!
What are the criteria for eco-responsible packaging?
To be considered eco-responsible by the SQDC, packaging has to meet at least two of the four following criteria:
- Includes at least 15% recycled content
- Does not exceed the established weight limit per container
- Travels less than 1,750 km from the packaging manufacturer to the cannabis producer
- Is made mainly from materials compatible with the Quebec sorting and recycling system
Remember: refundable cannabis drink containers, including cans and bottles, and vaping products (batteries, cartridges) are not accepted in our in-store packaging recycling program. Refundable cans and bottles should be taken to an official Québec deposit system drop-off location, and vaping products should be taken to a Recycle Your Vapes program drop-off location.
Questions? Ask ourin-store advisors, or chat with them online now.
Other subjects of interest
How to recycle cannabis containers
Materials recyclability is a complex subject. Not all glass, paperboard and plastic packaging should go into the recycling bin. And cannabis product packaging is no exception to the rule.
Overpackaged products: why?
Like our customers, we want packaging to be minimized to reduce its environmental impact. Here’s some information regarding the packaging.