Since the legalization of hemp in 2018, the industry has generated millions of pounds of post-extraction hemp biomass each year. This has led to an increasingly urgent question: what can be done with this “waste?”
According to Hemp Benchmarks, approximately 200 million pounds of CBD hemp biomass was produced in the United States from 2019 through 2021. Typically, around 10% of the weight of hemp biomass is extracted to produce full-spectrum crude oil that is later refined into isolates and distillates. That means that in the last several years, tens of millions of pounds of hemp material, such as fibrous material, stalks and other biomass, have gone to waste.
Transforming the Waste Stream with Hemp Plastic
Our hemp biocomposites are a possible solution for the increasing waste stream generated by hemp processing industries. We can utilize multiple parts of the hemp plant and a range of post-extraction or stalk materials in the creation of our biocomposites and hemp plastics. Our ability to use many parts and tap into the waste stream of the growing industrial, nutritional and medicinal hemp processing industries means we have supply available.
We compound a range of hemp materials with proprietary additives and polymers to create our hemp-filled plastics. Together, these form a compound material that is far greener than fossil fuel-based resins but retains the performance characteristics of the base resin, with some attractive aesthetics!
More Benefits of Hemp Plastic
Reducing the amount of waste from hemp industries is just a small part of the environmental benefits of hemp plastic.
Hemp plastic immediately and significantly reduces plastic use. Our customers can achieve a 25% to 100% reduction in fossil fuel plastic use immediately by switching to our more eco-friendly hemp plastics.
Hemp is one of nature’s greatest carbon absorbers. Hemp consumes far more greenhouse gasses than are emitted in its production. It is one of the best carbon sequestration options on the planet, and when you replace fossil fuel plastics that emit carbon with plastics made from carbon-sequestering hemp, the result is a carbon win-win.
Hemp is good for the land. The plant itself can be cultivated over and over again on the same land and can prevent water pollution and soil erosion.
Learn more about the benefits of hemp and how our biocomposites are changing the plastics industry by exploring our materials here. If you’re ready to make the greener choice, contact us today at [email protected].
