How Hemp Can Help Save the Planet
- Cercopes
- Apr 18, 2019
- 2 min read
It's not a secret: we desperately need alternatives to plastic, and we need them yesterday. Hemp offers us this alternative. In fact it actually offers a lot of alternatives, from a palm oil replacement to a cotton and plastic replacement.
Hemp as a Cotton Replacement:
One of the biggest perks of using hemp is that it matures very quickly (in about four months) and so less land is used because the crop can be harvested more often.
- Clothing made from hemp fibres last longer than cotton garments, and tend to go softer rather than wear out. Hemp clothing is strong, lightweight, and absorbent. It also uses a lot less water to grow than cotton does.
- Hemp is a hardy plant, and easily deals with pollutants in the air and soil and is actually being used to remove heavy metals like cadmium from the soil.
- Hemp requires little to no pesticides (compared to cotton which uses 16% of all the world's pesticides despite making up 2.5% of agricultural land usage) and so contaminates less of the environment with harmful runoff.
Hemp as a Palm Oil Replacement:
Palm oil is cheap, but cheap doesn't mean good. There is a lot of research going into finding alternatives and one option is using hemp oil. The process of producing hemp oil, however, is a lot more expensive than palm oil but there is work being done to make it cheaper. There are already products that are using hemp oil instead of palm oil, like Dr Organic's hemp range.
Hemp as a Plastic Replacement:
The cellulose fibres in hemp are excellent for making plant based biodegradable plastics. The plastic is strong and durable, and is already being used in boats, musical instruments, and cars. even though this plastic is biodegradable, it still has the potential to pollute and so will need to be sent to a composting facility to dispose of it properly.
There are so many ways commercial hemp can help the planet. It's deep roots prevent soil erosion, it requires very little water, it absorbs more oxygen than trees, it requires less land, and most of the plant can be used to create useful planet-friendly items. There are still many different laws all over the world preventing farmers from commercially growing hemp, however there are already motions towards changing these in order to ensure the planet a future.
Interesting reading.