Micron to deliver first cannabis waste digester

Micron Waste Technologies Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, a developer of aerobic digester solutions for the treatment of organic waste, announced the design and manufacturing of its Cannabis Waste Digester is now complete, with delivery to Aurora Cannabis Inc.’s facility in Mountain View County, Alberta, scheduled for the week of June 25.

At Aurora Mountain, a 55,200-square-foot cannabis production and cultivation facility with an output of approximately 4,800 kg of cannabis each year, the unit will undergo final on-site beta testing and optimization specific to production cycles. To date, organic waste from the facility has been processed using traditional methods under Health Canada regulations.

The Micron Cannabis Waste Digester, with multiple patents pending, was engineered based on proprietary foundation technology established through an extensive food waste processing project with a large supermarket chain. The Aurora Mountain facility unit is the first of several commissioned by Aurora, subject to the technology meeting certain milestones, under a collaboration agreement announced in December 2017. Subsequent units will be available to Canadian, American and international cannabis cultivators.

“The Cannabis Waste Digester is a model of green technology innovation, and its shipment to Aurora for final testing is a key milestone that positions us well to access this rapidly growing market,” Micron President Alfred Wong says. “Our digester offers cannabis cultivators the ability to treat cannabis waste on-site without the need for hauling to landfills or incineration. Importantly, it treats cannabis residues and keeps them out of the waste stream, while producing clean water and facilitating efficient waste inspection for growers and regulators.”

Micron’s proprietary digester resulted from a collaboration with Aurora to develop a clean technology solution to process organic waste generated from the growth and cultivation of cannabis, while mitigating concerns about the potential environmental impact.

“Industry-leading innovation is central to the Aurora standard,” Aurora’s Vice President of Production Dieter MacPherson says. “We asked Micron to work with us to reinvent cannabis waste processing to make it more cost-effective, less onerous and particularly environmentally sound. We look forward to receipt of the first Cannabis Waste Digester at Aurora Mountain and working with the Micron team to fine tune it to meet our specifications.”

Water extracted from cannabis waste by the Micron digester is treated to meet local water discharge standards or can be recycled back into the cultivation process.

“Developing a platform to denature cannabis residues was an exciting scientific and technological challenge,” Micron Waste Chief Technology Officer Bob Bhushan, developer of Micron’s commercial organic food waste digester system, says. “I am extremely proud of our scientific team of biologists and engineers who took this project from concept to completion in under six months. We exceeded the requirements of Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and improved on our previous high standards for waste water purification, which were already over and above those stipulated in municipal discharge regulations.”