Marijuana waste is marijuana that is not – or is no longer – usable. At the production/grower level, this typically means the fan leaves (which have negligible THC/CBD), the marijuana stalks, and the stems. However, waste may include usable marijuana that is of low quality or has spoiled, the byproducts of an extraction, or marijuana items that are simply not desirable.
Note that when disposing of waste, marijuana items should be rendered unusable. DEQ guidance provides a number of ways to dispose of marijuana waste, depending on the nature of the product: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/Regulations/Pages/Marijuana-Regulation.aspx
How waste is reported will depend on its source and the stage during the process it was generated.
Immature plants removed from an immature plant batch: If clones or seedlings in an immature plant batch die or are destroyed, they are tracked using the “destroy plants" function. This is a count-based interface and the user simply enters the number of plants destroyed.
Plant material from a live plant: If part of a plant is removed, falls off, or dies other than as part of a harvest and will not be used, it does not need to be tracked in CTS if the plant remains alive.
Wasting a whole tracked plant: If a whole plant must be destroyed and that plant is tracked individually, then the plant must be selected in the appropriate section in CTS and the “destroy plants" option must be used. This requires a reason code to be entered. A note field is included for clarification. The most common destruction reasons are molds or pests
Flower from a live plant: If flower is removed from a live plant and it will be used, this is not waste, it is a manicure harvest. If the flower will be destroyed or discarded, then it is waste from a live plant and does not need to be recorded in CTS.
Waste from a harvest: If waste material (stalks, stems, fan leaves) is removed from a harvest after it is tracked as a harvest in CTS as required, but before it is packaged under UID package tags, that waste must be weighed and reported using the “report waste" function. Because harvests recorded in CTS must be segregated from one another physically, waste must also be reported individually against those harvests.
Waste from a package: If some or all of the marijuana under a package tag is destroyed or damaged, the “adjust packages" function is used to reduce the quantity in the package. A reason code must be selected and a note can be entered for additional clarification.
Byproducts from processing: Usable marijuana used for processing typically results in a cannabinoid concentrate or extract and an amount of “spent" plant material. This waste plant material is not necessarily separately reported into CTS, but is accounted for when creating the process lot. For example, when creating a concentrate or extract in CTS, a source package of marijuana is identified and the quantity that will be used is identified. The difference between the quantity used as a source and the resulting extract or concentrate package is automatically assumed as waste. If this byproduct material will be used, retained, or transferred, then it must be “repackaged" from the original source.