Revere woman fights climate change in work at Massachusetts cannabis dispensary
REVERE -- A Revere woman is protecting the planet, one step at a time. Sam Woodman wants to cut the carbon footprint of big business and is starting with the cannabis industry.
Just one year out of college, Woodman is the Corporate Sustainability Specialist at Garden Remedies. The cannabis company that "grows green" was looking for someone to help it "go green."
"They saw something in my work that was able to transcend throughout the entire company which was really cool," Woodman told WBZ-TV.
She said her mission to combat climate change started with a destructive blizzard back in 2018.
"There was a ton of flooding that totaled 13 cars on my street, including my family's one car. And I have a single mother so that financially impacted us."
It was a life-changing experience.
"I realized then that climate change isn't something that's happening 10 years from now," Woodman revealed. "It's something that's impacting our lives now."
And that drive has led to a big impact at Garden Remedies.
"There's tons and tons of projects that have been happening since she's been on board," Gene Ray the Laboratory Vice President at Garden Remedies said. "And you can see the difference between last year and this year."
Woodman has been hard at work creating a number of initiatives to increase sustainability and save the company money.
So far, she's changed grow lights from high-pressure sodium to LEDs, increased composting, and switched from foam packaging to cardboard.
Woodman also installed recycling bins at dispensaries, believing it should not be on the consumer to recycle.
"Customers are able to bring in their containers from their flower, edibles, they're able to bring back their chocolate packaging," says Woodman. "And their pre-roll containers and drop that in a bin."
Woodman is now saving Garden Remedies a lot of money by ditching disposable suits at the grow facility.
"By switching to machine-washable suits, we've actually saved about $6,000 a month and significantly reduced our waste."
And those in charge say they are excited to see what Woodman does next.
"Every project we have given to her, she has kind of exceeded well beyond expectations," said Ray. "So that only means the sky is the limit for Sam."
"Small habits really do make a difference in the long run," said Woodman.