Client Spotlight: Proper Cannabis
Proper Cannabis, owned by Proper Brands, is a vertically integrated cannabis brand specializing in high-quality, carefully cultivated products. They took a 90,000-q. ft. facility down to the studs and let their award-winning cultivation and manufacturing team design their dream facility. Here, they have access to the latest cutting-edge technologies to precisely manage every aspect of their process.
Monarch Waste Co. is proud to partner with all 11 locations to extend its sustainability efforts.
The Process at Proper Cannabis
From cultivation and harvest to manufacturing and culinary creation, everything at Proper Cannabis is done with a careful human touch.
Cultivation
All of Proper’s plants follow the same path, going from the Propagation Room to the Vegetation Room, and then to the Flower Room. Every plant is examined daily and defoliated by the cultivation team.
Cannabis defoliation is the selective removal of leaves from the cannabis plant to improve its overall health and productivity. When growers remove excess foliage, they can direct the plant’s energy toward bud sites, improve airflow through the canopy, and allow more light to reach lower branches.
Post-Harvest
The post-harvest team cuts, trims, and weighs the plants before hanging each individually to dry at a relatively low temperature. This extended, gentle drying process allows them to better maintain the terpenes. Once dried, the team hand-manicures the plants before placing the flower in curing containers, which increases the aroma and flavor.
Processing
Live resin is produced by flash-freezing freshly harvested cannabis plants, preserving their rich terpene profile. Proper Cannabis then creates full-spectrum products, such as sauce, diamonds, rosin, and uncut live resin vape cartridges.
Plant material for their culinary team goes through further refinement.
Winterization is an extraction process that uses subzero temperatures to remove undesired waxes and fatty lipids, which can negatively impact flavor.
Short path distillation is a method used to separate and purify compounds. The name comes from the short distance, typically a few centimeters, that the materials being distilled travel.
Culinary
To make their edibles, Proper Cannabis uses real fruit in their gumdrops and the best European chocolate for their chocolate bars. Using a one-shot depositing system, these high-quality ingredients are combined with their pure distillate and then deposited into molds. The edibles are then packaged in-house.
How Proper Cannabis is Partnering With Monarch
Monarch Waste Co. and Proper Cannabis connected around a shared belief: that cannabis retail can and should take responsibility for the waste it generates.
All-in-one (AIO) disposable vapes are one of the cannabis industry’s toughest sustainability challenges, as each unit contains a lithium-ion battery that can’t safely be tossed in standard trash or recycling streams. Plus, discarding them also wastes valuable materials like cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel. This led Monarch to create its Disposable Vape Recycling Program.
Monarch installs collection kiosks at participating retailers, and then recycles the batteries with local R2-certified recyclers. This recovers 90% to 95% of the materials from every vape pen while keeping them out of landfills. Scheduling pickups, waste processing, and documentation are all handled by Monarch, allowing dispensaries to stay focused on daily operations while remaining fully compliant.
Monarch is excited to share that Proper Cannabis joined the program and has kiosks in all 11 locations. They span urban and suburban markets across the state, from St. Louis to House Springs and Kansas City, Missouri.
Participating in the St. Louis Earth Day Festival
Beyond retail locations, Monarch Waste Co. and Proper Cannabis shared a booth at a local festival, bringing the program to the attention of even more members of the St. Louis community.
They attended the St. Louis Earth Day Festival on April 25 and April 26, 2026, on The Muny grounds in Forest Park. The festival, started in 2002, has become a community tradition for learning about sustainable products and services offered by local businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Monarch set up a collection kiosk and printed materials that describe the program. Festival goers dropped off their empty vape pens and, by reading or chatting with a team member, walked away knowing where the vape pens were going and the positive impact this was making.
Make Safe Vape Disposal Easy for Your Community
Giving your community a simple, responsible way to return used vape pens is an easy step toward protecting people and the planet.
By joining the Disposable Vape Pen Takeback Program, dispensaries offer a simple, responsible solution that fits naturally into the customer experience and supports safer waste practices across Missouri.
If your dispensary is ready to join, fill out our contact form. A team member will reach out with what you need to get started!