Cannabis is a mighty plant that can clean the soil in which it grows, but growing it indoors, while efficient, is unnatural.

In Canada, home of the highest ecological footprint in the world, cannabis growers have a few reasons for growing indoors: They can grow all year; the conditions are predictable, safe and automated; and outdoor grow licences weren’t available until very recently.

But indoor growing isn’t the only energy-suck of the commercial cannabis industry. Wasteful practices are driven by regulations and the newness of the industry, but we’ve spotted four trending ways that cannabis companies can lean into green.

#1. Less packaging

Cannabis marketers hate the current industry packaging rules because they make cannabis look dull, but the real dirty secret of Health Canada’s packaging regulations is that they cause an exceptional amount of waste.

In August 2018, The Washington Post reported that plastic cannabis containers were filling gutters and landfills, and bobbing in waterways. But cannabis companies can do better, despite having their hands somewhat bound by compliance. The future of cannabis packaging is in lean solutions that are either recyclable, biodegradable or compostable.

Tweed’s pre-rolls come in a child-proof tube that can be reused, while Redecan’s dry flower canisters seem to be the smallest-format solution on the legal market. Retailers can contribute by partnering with a recycler who deals specifically with cannabis packaging waste.

#2. Outdoor growing

In February 2018, Colorado Public Radio reported that four percent of Denver’s energy was devoted to the cannabis industry. Indoor cultivation can be water-efficient, but takes the most amount of energy compared with other growing methods. According to New Frontier Data, indoor cultivators use 18 times more energy to produce one gram of cannabis than outdoor cultivators use (kWh/gram).

Few license holders in Canada are allowed to grow outdoors, and there’s one excellent option that will enable them to remain indoors—where the weather is predictable—while basking in real sunlight. Companies like HEXO Cannabis,Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth Corp. are shifting to high-tech, walled-in, glass-roofed greenhouses, occasionally branded as “sungrown,” like Tantalus Labs and Aphria’s Solei.

#3 Choke out waste

There’s almost always one method or practice that a cannabis growing facility can upgrade to be more efficient and ecologically sound.

Growers like The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) use LED lighting, solar power and rainwater reclamation, and recyclable packaging to operate sustainably. Where is an operation to go when it feels its green practices are at maximum capacity? It can use technology to automate these systems in order to optimize both plant production and energy efficiency.

#4 Schwag smarter

Cannabis industry folks are swimming in merchandise from LPs, their subsidiaries and all the independent operators between. Some items are wonderfully useful, like a good-quality sweatshirt or stash accessories. Others are cheap, corny and destined for the bin.

The most intuitive way to cut out this type of waste is to invest in high-grade sustainable items and if that increases costs, be more selective about who gets them.