Elizabeth Corbett is the president of enterprise sales at AE Global, a company that specializes in custom cannabis packaging solutions. Corbett says sustainability drives AE Global's spirit and remains a integral part of the company's culture.
About three years ago, AE Global decided to build a facility in the Dominican Republic tasked with gathering and processing what would have been ocean-bound plastic. It was her second day at the company and she was in the room when the owners decided to build the plant. At the time, she thought it sounded like a risk. What if we recycle all of the plastic?, she asked. That's when she found out that the Dominican Republic is the most polluted country in the Caribbean, and such a situation would likely never happen.
AE Global built the facility, which gathers, sorts and processes the plastic before it is flaked down, a process that fragments the material into small, thin pieces of plastic that can be reprocessed. The flakes are then shipped to Miami.
The plant's proximity to the U.S. is a big differentiator for AE Global. Most packaging made from ocean-bound plastic comes from Asia. The company is the only one performing this process in the Western Hemisphere, so it doesn't have a significant carbon footprint from a transportation perspective. After all, the material is only going about 80 miles.
AE Global turns the flakes into packaging, mostly for pre-rolls and vape hardware. Unfortunately, the material isn't food grade, so you won't see it in edible packaging anytime soon and it also isn't ideal for flexible packaging either. However, AE Global sells the plastic flakes it can't use to partners in other industries, like those who make outdoor furniture, and receives offsets as a result.
The Cannabis Equipment News (CEN) team recently traveled to MJBizCon 2024 in Las Vegas from December 4 through December 6. At the show, we interviewed leaders from nearly every aspect of the industry. We didn't have time to interview everybody, so if we missed you, please reach out to [email protected]. MJBizCon 2025 is scheduled to be held from December 2, 2025, through December 5, 2025, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.