Apr 18, 2024
I love how we were all expected to go all in on paper straws, when Hemp plastic is biodegradable. Just one more example of conservative prohibitions holding us back as a species.
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I love how we were all expected to go all in on paper straws, when Hemp plastic is biodegradable. Just one more example of conservative prohibitions holding us back as a species.
What Is Hemp?
It’s A Trillion Dollar Cash Crop.
Hemp is a name given to a strain of the cannabis plant.
Hemp is a name given to cultivars of the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa) that have been selected over many generations for fiber and seed production. Most hemp cultivars contain less than 1.5% THC, a narcotic compound that has the potential for abuse in high concentrations. Cannabis sativa cultivars selected and developed for their drug properties, referred to as marijuana, or dagga, can have a THC content of 3%-25%. Hemp is a bast fiber, producing its fibers in the stalk similar to flax, kenaf, and sun hemp.
Multiple Uses
Hemp fiber and seed are used to produce a wide range of commodities including food and beverage products, fiberboard, insulation, paper, composites, textiles, carpets, animal bedding and feed, cosmetics, body-care products, soaps, paints, fuels, and medicines.
Hemp Seed Food and Beverage Products
Hemp seed contains about 25% protein, 30% carbohydrates, & 15% insoluble fiber. Hemp seed is reported to contain more easily digestible protein than soybeans. Hemp seed contains all 8 amino acids essential to human nutrition. Hemp seed is high in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, carotene, sulfur, iron and zinc, as well as Vitamins A, E, C, B1, B2, B3, and B6.
Hemp seed imported into the United States or Canada must be steam sterilized at between 180 degrees F and 212 degrees F for 15 minutes to prevent sprouting. Many US facilities receive imported viable seed under customs bond, steam it, and release it to the consignee or customer with a Certificate of Sterilization.
Hemp food and beverage products include hemp oil and seed, flour, pasta, cheese, tofu, salad dressings, snacks, sweets, hemp protein powders, soft drinks, beer, and wine. Hemp beer can be made from the seed, flowers, sprouts, and seed cake that is a by-product of oil pressing. Hemp beer is produced and sold in Europe and the United States of America.
Hemp Oil
Hemp seed is 25% to 35% oil, and is one of the oils lowest in saturated fats (8%). Hemp seed oil is the richest source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (80%). Hemp seed oil is the only common edible seed oil containing Omega-6 Gamma-Linolenic Acid. Hemp seed oil is very fragile and not suitable for cooking.
Pressed hemp seed oil must be bottled immediately under oxygen-free conditions, and must be refrigerated in dark, airtight containers.
Fiberboard
Hemp fiberboard tested by Washington State University Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory proved to be two and one half times stronger than wood MDF composites, and the hemp composite boards were three times more elastic.
Hemp herds can be used in existing mills without major changes in equipment. Russia, Poland and other Eastern European countries already manufacture composite boards from hemp and other plant materials.
Pulp and Paper
The major use of hemp fiber in Europe is in the production of specialty papers such as cigarette paper, archival paper, tea bags, and currency paper. The average bast fiber pulp and paper mill produces 5,000 tons of paper per year. Most mills process long bast fiber strands, which arrive as bales of cleaned ribbon from per-processing plants located near the cultivation areas.
Composites
Until the 1930’s, hemp-based cellophane, celluloid and other products were common, and Henry Ford used hemp to make car doors and fenders. Today hemp herds can be used to make new plastic and injection-molded products or blended into recycled plastic products. Hemp fibers are introduced into plastics to make them stiffer, stronger and more impact resistant. Hemp plastics can be designed that are hard, dense, and heat resistant, and which can be drilled, ground, milled, and planed.
Hemp plastic products currently made include chairs, boxes, percussion instruments, lampshades, bowls, cups, spectacles, jewelry, skateboards, and snowboards.
Hemp Animal Care
Hemp horse bedding and cat litter are produced and sold in Europe. After oil is extracted from the hemp seed, the remaining seed cake is about 25% protein and makes an excellent feed for chicken, cattle, and fish. Chickens fed hemp seed on a regular basis have been found to produce more eggs, without the added hormones used in most poultry plants.
Fuels
Hemp seed oil can be combined with 15% methanol to create a substitute for diesel fuel which burns 70% cleaner than petroleum diesel. Hemp stalks are rich in fiber and cellulose, making them conducive for conversion into ethanol and methanol fuels that have a higher octane than gasoline and produce less carbon monoxide. These biomass fuels are also free from sulfur, and do not require the addition of lead and benzene used to boost octane and improve engine performance in fossil fuels. Ethanol holds condensation, eliminating oxidation and corrosion, and is reported to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 30%.
Hemp has been studied in Ireland as a biomass fuel to generate electricity. Hemp has been reported to yield 1000 gallons of methanol per acre year. Hemp stalk can be converted to a charcoal-like fuel through a thermochemical process called pyrolysis. Henry Ford operated a biomass pyrolitic plant at Iron Mountain, Michigan in the mid-20th.
Paints and Varnishes and Binders
Until the 1930's, most paints were made from hemp seed oil and flax seed oil. Hemp oil makes a durable, long lasting paint that renders wood water-resistant. Hemp herds have the potential to make glues for composite construction products that are non-toxic and superior to binders currently used. With this technology, industry can produce composite products where all components are derived from hemp.
Markets for Hemp Pulp
Some paper manufacturers already have the equipment to process decorticated hemp fiber into paper. The leading European supplier of non-wood pulp, Celesa, currently produces about 10,000 tons per year of pulp from hemp. The use of hemp pulp in blends with recycled fiber of other non-wood fibers is growing. Tests by several European pulp and paper producers suggest that hemp pulp may replace cotton cost effectively in several specialty paper applications.
Potential Markets for Medical Application of Low-THC Hemp Cultivars
Many cannabis medicines have been produced using cannabis cultivars high in THC, and there has been medical research into cannabis that is low in THC and high in CBD. CBD is a cannabinoid that does not have many of the psychoactive effects associated with THC. CBD has been used to treat the following medical conditions: epilepsy, dystonic movement disorders, inflammatory disorders, pain, chronic insomnia, chorea, cerebral palsy, and Tourette's syndrome. According to a July 1998 report by the National Institute of Health, CBD may hold promise for preventing brain damage in strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and even heart attacks and has been found to prevent brain cell death in an experimental stroke model.
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What’s So Great About Hemp Plastic?
The use of plastic is one of the most damaging habits we have as humans… Just take a look at the great pacific garbage patch for example.
But it’s not like it all goes there. That’s just where the current takes a lot of it. Unfortunately, our plastic addiction has contaminated all but 13% of all fish in the great barrier reef in our very own home in Australia. Isn’t it just tragic?
As if this isn’t bad enough, commercial plastics used in most packaging all require fossil fuels to be manufactured. A lot of energy goes into making plastics, and the byproducts after making them also take a toll on the environment. So not only are we destroying our oceans, but also contributing to the draining of resources and polluting the rest of the environment around us.
The nail in the coffin?
Most plastics will take at least 500 years to break down. Even then, the microplastics will continue to pollute marine life all over the ocean…
As it is, it’s said the average person consumes around a whole credit card worth of microplastics in food and drink every single week – that’s about 20 grams!
But rest assured, as small batches of composites called ‘bioplastics’ are starting to pop up all over the world, which can offer temporary solutions to our plastic habits as we start to change the way we use them.
Enter hemp – One of the newest kids on the bio-plastic block.
Recently, companies have started to develop hemp plastics and that do not contain any of the toxic chemicals that can cause harm to both humans as well as the rest of the ecosystem we exist in.
Basically, hemp plastic offers a non-toxic, biodegradable, earth-friendly solution to one of humanity’s greatest problems. To top it off, it’s much stiffer and 2x as strong as what we like to call ‘plastics from the past’.
Hemp… what can’t it do?
The Making of Hemp Bioplastics
Hemp is very easy to grow and grows extremely quickly. It’s one of the fastest-growing crops on earth, with an average turnaround of around 3 months. As a fast-growing weed, it outgrows competing weeds before they have the chance to break through the canopy, which virtually eliminates the need for herbicides. Chemical pesticides are also rarely required, as hemp is a very pest-resistant crop.
One of the coolest things about hemp is something we talk about often… Hemp consumes a LOT of Co2 through a process called carbon sequestration, which can then be locked into the plastics that are made.
Yep, it requires so much Co2 to grow that it cleans our atmosphere. A similar process called phytoremediation also cleans the soil. You can read more about these in our blog about 7 ways that hemp is helping us build a sustainable future.
Once grown, it is harvested and processed, the stems are usually separated and further refined into hemp biomass. Stems are used because they contain anywhere between 70-80% cellulose. From the biomass, the cellulose can then be processed further and used as the basic building block for hemp bioplastics.
Simple – kind of…
Are Hemp Bioplastics Currently In Use?
You may ask when this concept of hemp plastic was made popular in the public eye. It might take you by surprise to hear that it was not a recent development!
In 1941, a pioneer in the automotive industry by the name of Henry Ford went public with a car prototype called the ‘Model-T’. There are unconfirmed stories of this running on hemp fuel, but what is widely known is that the body of the car was made from hemp-based plastic.
Unfortunately, it was made sure that this was never mass-produced. A couple of years later, hemp went from one of the most predominant crops in society, to being outlawed completely. Could you imagine what the world would look like if Henry Ford got this out to the masses? (Read more about Ford’s Model T, and his ideas for Biofuels here.)
However, the period of prohibition in the United States is over. We can grow hemp here in Australia now. And even Thailand just legalised cannabis and started educating their youth on it. But what does all this mean? It means there’s more progress towards this reality every single day.
Finally, over the last 10 years, there have been new developments in the field of hemp bioplastics
Notable companies implementing hemp plastics
Entwined™ Hemp 3d Printing Filament:
3D printing technology is stirring quietly in the background, quietly making leaps and bounds towards viable, commercial printing options. “But what about eco-friendly options?” you may ask. Well, now there is one – and it’s made from hemp! Entwined™ offers a 3d printing filament that’s based on hemp. It still uses a poly-blend, but we think it’s a massive step forward in this field.
Sana Packaging
Made from a blend of 30% hemp and 70% other plants, Sana packaging offers hemp packaging solutions to relevant medical and recreational marijuana industries. They also make plastics using 100% reclaimed ocean plastic. Packaging is a huge issue in the marijuana industry in the U.S.A, which Sana hopes to help address by utilising the very plant that is being sold inside the packaging. We hope that one day, this technology will be adopted by the Australian market in one way or another!
Hemp Plastic Company
The Hemp Plastic Company is a Canadian R&D company that aims to develop commercially viable hemp-based bioplastics that can be used in place of traditional plastics. Currently, they have a range of options available to cater to the needs of customers around the world.
You can check out their whole range here! You’ll be glad to know that they stock a 100% hemp bioplastic, that you could buy today!
Conclusion
So, hemp plastics are starting to look like quite the breakthrough, aren’t they?
The main reason we wanted to write this was to bring some awareness to the fact that our abuse of single-use plastics is causing exorbitant amounts of damage to our planet. But before leaving on a note of doom-and-gloom, we also want people to know there are solutions!
It’s not just hemp bioplastics offering solutions. Another great example of high-cellulose crops is sugarcane and corn. Basically, anything high in cellulose can be used to make cellulose-based bioplastic. On top of that, you have other bases like bio-resins. It’s all pretty nitpicky stuff, but if it’s what you want to learn more about, we encourage you to do so!
There are also people like Boylan Slat, who are making breakthroughs in cleaning up the plastics currently residing in our oceans! The Ocean Cleanup Project recently completed their first successful prototype, which they will eventually scale, and use to clean up their goal of 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.
So, it’s not all doom and gloom. And there are lots of solutions – Hemp is one of them.
Do you think hemp bioplastics will take off? What do you think the commercial biggest use of hemp bioplastics will be in the future? We’d love to hear from you!
Learn more about whether Hemp can help solve plastic pollution here.
What is Each Sē?
Each Sē is a company that produces water bottles made of hemp plastic, which is entirely natural and biodegradable. The hemp plant itself absorbs more carbon dioxide per hectare than any other industrial plant. Furthermore, it removes toxins from the soil it is planted and grown in.
Disclaimer: Hemp is only a cousin to marijuana. Drinking water from our bottles will not get you high.
What Products Can Hemp Make?
Hemp can be used to make paper, fiber, fuel, food AND PLASTIC.
If you want to have a GREEN ECONOMY - use hemp!
Written by Casper Leitch
Cannabis is a major cash crop, this is common knowledge. Many people are still unaware that the sister strain of cannabis (ie. hemp) is also a big money maker for everyone who works with it. From the farmer who plants the hemp seed to the store owner who sells the many different hemp products, everyone becomes part of the growing hemp economy.
Hemp can be used to make: different grades of paper; different types of fibers for cloth; fuel to run cars, trucks, buses and planes with; oils to cook with and use in paints; and in making plastic.
Plastic made from hemp is biodegradable.
Plastics alone are a big business. Look around and count the items within arm’s reach that are made from plastic. The substance has made life infinitely more convenient; people carry groceries in it, drink water from it, wrap foods in it, and even use it to build devices to access online blog posts about plastics. Its presence is as ubiquitous as its potential uses are endless. We need to use hemp plastic.
But the problem with plastics is that they never go away, ever. There is no global solution to the disposal of single use plastics such as grocery bags and water bottles. One trillion single-use plastic bags are consumed annually around the globe. One million bags are being used every minute. Each of these bags is used only for a matter of minutes, but take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
The consequences of using plastic.
Every square mile of ocean, which takes up 70% of the planet, contains 46,000 pieces of plastic trash in various stages of decomposition, with the majority broken down into fragments which are consumed by sea life that is in turn consumed by humans, introducing toxic Bisphenol-A (BPA) into human diets, which may be the cause of fertility problems among women in countries reliant on the ocean for food.
The consequences of all that plastic are steep and expensive. Nearly 50 percent of life, and therefore the entire food chain, exists the world’s oceans. All around the globe, beaches are buried in layers of plastic garbage, sometimes 5-10 feet deep. Scientist are at a loss as to how to clean up the damage already done, but agree that continued contribution to the plastic waste problem must stop. Plastic made from hemp biodegrades in just a few short years.
The irony is that while solutions to the mounting problem of plastic garbage already exist, they are either dismissed as inconvenient (plastic bag bans or taxes, carrying reusable water bottles) or the means of their production are made illegal.
Hemp makes an excellent alternative to plastics but is illegal.
Hemp provides an excellent alternative to plastics yet remains illegal (and therefore cost prohibitive) due to its association with the drug marijuana. But there is no good reason for this. Even in the absence of international treaties or regulations requiring the end of plastic waste, taking concrete steps to implement hemp substitutions still make sense.
Currently, growing hemp in the United States is prohibited, but that may quickly change. Hemp reform has already made significant progress in the US Congress, and so a thriving domestic hemp economy may be just around the corner. And that will do more than just replace plastic bags.
Use Hemp And Save The Earth!
Hemp plastics are destined to create an economic boom, slow the rate of plastic pollution in our oceans and air (they are flame retardant) and could be used on the exact same machinery already being used to create plastic goods like bottles and bags. Hemp plastics are not only 100% biodegradable, meaning they do not contribute to permanent pollution, but they are also 2.5 times stronger than standard use plastics.
Thus, a rapid switch can be made from a weak, disposable commodity which remains in a polluting form for thousands of years to a strong, organic, biodegradable alternative. And all that's holding back a better future is bad public policy.
Below is a FREE TO DOWNLOAD marijuana music MP3 by Red Dirt.
The Pot Song.
Why Hemp is the Future of Sustainable Materials - Paul Benhaim Interview Part 1
An interview between Dylan Wood from Broadleaf Hemp (BLH) and Paul Benhaim from The Hemp Plastic Company (PB). | www.hempplastic.com | www.broadleafhemp.com Exploring the Versatility of Hemp BLH: Something I get asked about a lot is what can you do with Hemp and my answer to that is anything! There’s over 25,000 recognised industrial uses of the hemp plant and I think the question is more…
The Magic Of Hemp Oil
Time 4 Hemp Fuel
- June 20, 2015 -
Hemp fuel is one of the many solutions facing the problems of the Earth. At a recent climate conference held in Europe, world leaders pledged to end the use of fossil fuels by the year 2100. What they didn’t say was how they plan to do it and we know we can’t go at full steam and then stop everything at once in the year 2100. Many people don’t realize that fossil fuels give us more than just gasoline and oil. They give us everything from clothing to even the plastics to create the capsules that we take our medication with. It really is everywhere. One option many believe should be looked at is hemp, the sister plant to cannabis.
The hemp plant before being outlawed was similar as the fossil fuels in that it could be created into thousands of things from plastics, fabric and can be made into a fuel. Over time this valuable information was hidden, destroyed or kept from people as the fossil fuel industry took control of the things we needed. But times are changing as several states are now starting to allow the growing of hemp, which could be a replacement for the fossil fuels or part of the solution. Then there are the folks who look after the Hemp History Week who would agree, hemp fuel is the replacement and want everyone to know about it. For the last six years Hemp History Week has been celebrated across the USA and it keeps growing. How big is it? Well last year “Hemp History Week was a big success with over 1,400 events held throughout all 50 states!”
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