Cannabis is a family (genus, if you want to get technical) of plants, comprising both marijuana and hemp, among other plants. They are both strains of the same species, Cannabis sativa, but the primary difference is that marijuana gets you high, and hemp does not.
Let’s start off with a little history of hemp.
Humans have grown cannabis for millennia and possibly because of cultivation practices, two strains have been developed- Cannabis sativa, known as marijuana, and Cannabis indica, the subspecies known as hemp. Hemp contains fewer cannabinoids than its medicinal cousin, and in countries where it is legally grown, it must contain lower than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinoids, the psychoactive component of the cannabis species.
Hemp was the first plant known to have been domestically cultivated. It is one of the most rapidly growing plants and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fibre 50,000 years ago. The oldest relic of human history is hemp fabric dated to 8,000 BC from ancient Mesopotamia, an area in present-day Turkey. It has been grown as long as recorded in history for food, fuel, fibre etc.
How To: Hemp
Hemp plastics are created from the stalk of the plant. Once the fibres have been taken off from the hemp stems, what remains is 77% cellulose. This high cellulose content of the stalk is required for plastic construction, providing both strength and flexibility. What makes hemp really outshine its other competitors is its high cellulose count combined with its favourable growing characteristics and low environmental impact.
Studies have found hemp-based plastics to be 2.5 times stronger and five times stiffer than traditional plastic that is made from polypropylene. In fact, hemp was indispensable to the very first plastics due to its high cellulose content.
The famous car manufacturer Henry Ford swore by the plant: "Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" While it is hard to make a 100% hemp-based plastic alternative, some companies, such as Coca-Cola and Lego, are already using a plastic made out of hemp and other plant fibres in their products.
Can Hemp save our planet from plastic pollution?
That’s the big question. Plastic waste is a paramount conversation topic in sustainability circles these days. Every piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists in the world today. At present, the plastic we use is fossil fuel-based and takes over 400 years to decompose- a nightmare for the environment, considering we now have 9.2 billion tons of it to deal with. But, there is hope. From bottles to grocery bags, hemp can replace plastic.
Hemp is a plant that has the potential to help us reinvent the future of plastic and other materials. You’ve probably heard about sustainable plastics which can be made from a wide variety of plants. However, few of these plants grow as fast as hemp. Hemp can reach a height of 5 feet in just a few weeks and has been known to reach 20 feet in months. This means that a large amount of product can be harvested relatively quickly.
Hemp grows prolifically thus making it an extremely efficient crop for making bioplastics. They are lightweight, biodegradable and can replace many petrochemical plastics (oil- based plastics). It is a clean, ecological, sustainable and renewable alternative.
Can hemp plastics help combat global warming?
Hemp plastics and other hemp products can reduce the greenhouse effect by ‘locking in’ carbon.
As it grows, hemp absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the basic element of all plants and animals, from the atmosphere and converts this pollutant into oxygen, which it then releases.
When hemp is used for materials that are sustainable (and thus last a long time), this CO2 stays locked in the material, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere and hence combating global warming.
Is Hemp the solution to pollution?
As we look to find new ways to create a healthier, sustainable lifestyle, we look to hemp for some new ideas. Hemp is so much more than marijuana’s hard working, non-dreamy sister. From fibre to medicine to fuel, we’ve been finding all sorts of incredible superpowers that this plant offers.
Now, get ready for another amazing ability: Phytoremediation, the intentional use of plants for removal of contaminants in soils, sludges, sediments, surface water, and groundwater. It is basically a fancy-pants way of saying that this plant is cleaning up our pollution-burdened world, in incredible ways!
Hemp is an ideal choice for phytoremediation because it grows super fast, has deep roots, and is unaffected by the toxins it accumulates from the soil and the air. While hemp cleans the soil, it also acts as a carbon sink to reduce greenhouse gases.
Hemp heals. How, you ask?
In Chernobyl, for example, hemp was being used successfully to draw radioactive particles and extract lead, cadmium and nickel from a plot of land contaminated with sewage sludge, helping to shift the area into a place that can be habitable in the future.
Hemp also has a healing effect on our soil, and is a great way to deal with “ruined” farmland. Wherever the topsoil has been destroyed from being over-farmed, it can help improve the quality of the soil, while thriving itself.
In fact, in countries where it is legal to grow hemp (India, Canada, China, UK, etc.), many people plant hemp to cleanse soil because it absorbs anything the soil has in it--toxins, pesticides, insecticides, fertilisers.
What’s more interesting though, is the idea of using hemp to clean our air! This plant dates way back, to when the planet was still young enough to look like it needs its ID checked at bars, possibly about 32 million years ago. Back then, our current understanding is that the planet had CO2 levels at about 1200ppm. Flourishing there, it evolved to powerfully draw carbon dioxide out of the air.
Heavy metals in the soil? Air pollution? Too much CO2? Throw in some hemp. This plant just keeps growing bigger and faster, filling the air with oxygen as it goes on its merry way. Even the stalks and seeds absorb it! Who needs an air filter when you have hemp? This plant will not be stopped!
You can eat its seeds, treat pain and inflammation with its oils and make clothing, rope and paper from its fibres. And now, in the 21st century, we’re discovering that it can perform like a kind of a toxic-substance vacuum cleaner too.
Hemp Makes Great Plastic, So Why Isn’t Hemp Plastic Everywhere?
The U.S. legalized hemp in 2018, after a few years of research into hemp growing. Hence, decades of drug prohibition mean we’re still lacking much of the infrastructure needed to grow and process hemp into plastic.
Though hemp requires fewer pesticides and has a smaller environmental footprint than many other crops, growing and harvesting it remains labour intensive.
hemp requires significant fertiliser in some soils, and also has relatively high-water requirements.
But on the positive side, hemp prices will undoubtedly come down, and technology improve as hemp growing spreads from coast to coast and more and more farmers are beginning to experiment with other varieties that can be more easily harvested for their fibre content.
Bioplastics Are Promising, But Can’t Solve All Our Pollution Problems
Unfortunately, even plastic that’s intentionally designed to be biodegradable can still be a source of pollution. Just about nothing biodegrades in a landfill, and hemp micro-plastics could still cause problems when introduced to the oceans.
Biodegradable plastics need to be sent to commercial composting facilities for efficient disposal, and these facilities aren’t available to everyone. In addition to creating better alternatives to plastic, we’ll still need to create more responsible attitudes toward disposable products.
In conclusion, hemp is simply a miracle plant that will revivify depleted soils, mitigate the threat of climate change, and re-establish harmonic balance between humans and the environment. One of the most striking uses of hemp plastic is the door panels and back shelves of certain series of cars by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Bugatti, which are made from hemp fibres. Ford's dreams are coming true after all!
By switching to hemp and plant-fibre plastic, we could reduce exposure to toxic chemicals found in plastic and cut down on the amount of plastic that enters landfills and the ocean.
The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” doesn’t need to get any bigger.
Whether or not we’ll ever be able to build a spaceship from hemp bricks, the full promise of hemp plastic remains tantalisingly close, but just out of reach. We have the technology NOW, to achieve this. As our world builds momentum, choosing this incredible plant’s potential instead of its old stories and stigmas, we can get closer to a cleaner, healthier and most importantly, a plastic-free world.
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