Hemp Plastic: Not Just For Sandals Anymore
by on 08.16.05
With oil prices climbing all over the world, plastics manufacturers are looking to alternative sources of raw material that don't rely on synthetics. British company Hemp Plastics thinks it's on the right track to producing a 100% hemp feedstock plastic. It's current formulation, which uses hemp fiber filler bound with recycled plastic (a petrochemical component which they to replace with a hemp starch polymer) is lightweight, super tough, and even with its oil-based binder, uses far less petroleum than a comparable piece of polycarbonate...
We previously profiled their CD cases, and now they are selling a spice grinder and kitchen scale as well. All sales go raise capital to continue their research into a better formula of plastic. They also have created drums, guitars, and didgeridoo molded from the material, and further inquiry might allow their purchase. For us, the cardboardesque color seems a small price to pay for higher durability and a drastic reduction in plastic usage. Prices for the scale and grinder are higher than you would normally pay -- the kitchen scale is $60 US -- but the product is nice, and the cause is important. :: Hemp Plastic Research
hemp "spice" grinder. heh heh...
but seriously. These are the same guys who do that awesome "peanut" chair ...and they have some way heavy process to make a hempcrete too
...but i agree with earlier TH hempposts when u guys said hemp needs a makeover, new name, new attytude ...the stuff is great. but the cheech and chong thing is sooo 70's
Seems like a good product, but there's no mention on the site if this stuff is recyclable or biodegradable.....
Um, plastics companies are not looking into alternatives much as far as I can tell. The Chlorine and related chemicals industries love making PVC and marketing it as the greatest material ever made, never mind the millons of tons of mercury and dioxins that magically dissapear. The big plastics makers and big organo-chloride chemical companies are the same thing.
hey wanna hear a rumour??
a HUGE makeup & face-goop company (who already use "Natural" stuff in their goop)is working on making bottles from plastic scooped out of the worlds oceans! If they can do this i think I'm going to start buing face-goop. (if you know nothing about how plastic end up in the oceans, buckle your seatbelt.. its pretty hairy)
hey! i just realized... you already did a piece on a lot of the hemp plastic stuff these guys do just from a different angle