Micron Waste and Quest Partner to Treat Cannabis Waste

Micron Waste Technologies Inc., a developer of proprietary digester solutions for the treatment of organic waste, has partnered with Quest Resource Management Group LLC, a fully owned subsidiary of Quest Resource Holding Corporation, to market and distribute Micron's proprietary Cannavore cannabis waste processing systems in the United States.

"Quest operates in all 50 states and provides custom, innovative waste management solutions to a wide range of industries," said Micron President Alfred Wong in a statement. "With its strong market positioning, Quest will help accelerate the entry of Micron's leading cannabis waste management technology into the U.S. and capitalize on the expanding American cannabis cultivation market."

"Quest strives to provide our customers with the most effective waste minimization solutions," said Ray Hatch, Quest's CEO, in a statement. "We are pleased to offer U.S. cannabis growers a solution that not only safely treats cannabis waste onsite but also removes the contaminants and active pharmaceutical compounds from the effluent water. In addition, growers seeking to minimize their operations' water footprint will be able to recycle and reclaim the purified water for their operations."

The U.S. cannabis industry is rapidly growing, with retail sales projected to reach an estimated $5.1 billion to $6.1 billion dollars in 2018. By 2020, overall retail sales are projected to reach between $11.9 billion and $17.1 billion dollars, with $47 billion in sales projected within a decade. The Micron-Quest partnership offers cannabis growers a regulatory-compliant, environmentally sound alternative to process thousands of tons of pharmaceutical-laden cannabis waste. 

Related:Aerobic Digestion is Key to Cannabis Waste Conversion

The Micron Cannavore was designed to meet the specifications of Aurora Cannabis Inc. per a collaboration announced in December 2017, for a clean technology solution to process organic waste generated from the growth and cultivation of cannabis, while mitigating concerns about the potential environmental impact.

The industrial-grade Cannavore pulverizes and renders cannabis waste in combination with a proprietary blend of microbes and enzymes designed and developed by Micron. As part of Micron's full-system waste treatment platform, effluent from the digester is further treated to derive clean greywater that can be reused in growing operations. Alternatively, the treated regulatory-compliant greywater from the Cannavore, which exceeds municipal discharge standards, can be safely discharged. Active pharmaceutical ingredients in cannabis waste are further biologically treated via a proprietary process to denature cannabinoids present, keeping them out of watersheds, preventing bio-accumulation. Being an aerobic process, it does not emit methane. Onsite processing eliminates need for conventional waste methods such as trucking, landfilling and incineration.

Micron's Cannavore Digester and Organic Waste Digester units have been awarded an Industrial Design Certificate of Registration from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, with patent pending in the United States.