While there’s been a big push toward going green — why are big companies still focusing on trees for their products?
Why not Hemp? Do you think businesses don’t know about Hemp’s benefits, or don’t know how to step away from the petrochemical industrial complex? Are they really in the dark, or are they simply choosing to avoid Hemp’s multi-billion dollar future, no matter what the cost to our environment? Climate change and the resultant economic fallout is happening now, and we need to move back to the hemp as a resource.
Here’s one good reason: Crops of hemp fiber can be grown in 12 to 14 weeks.
Jack Herer said it perfectly: “Why use up a forest which was 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?”
Why is it, as we move into 2021, that Hemp is not a major solution for many of the answers we seek? I cannot be the only one who stands in complete awe about why Hemp is not a primary economic movement in our country and throughout the world. Actually, we do know why, and I wonder what “We the People” of this planet are going to do about it. How will we turn things around?
How is it that big companies are doing everything they can to go green but aren’t moving toward Hemp? How is it possible that these major companies don’t know about the power of Hemp? How can we go forward in this country with absolutely no plan for this wonder plant being included as part of our economy and the environment? Why do major companies such as Coca-Cola make a move from plastic bottles to paper bottles — made from wood — when they could have used Hemp plastic instead? What am I missing here?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists estimate that eight million metric tons of plastic — the approximate weight of 90 aircraft carriers — find their way into our oceans every year. The Paper Bottle Company (Paboco) wants to help manufacturers and distributors reduce their single-use plastic waste by creating bottles made from degradable plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.
BillerudKorsnäs, a paper packaging developer, first started this initiative in 2013 and has been joined by research companies and industry leaders like Avantium and ALPLA. The project proudly announced in October 2019 that Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, and Absolut had joined their efforts.
The historic brewery, Carlsberg, has been a long-time partner of the Paper Bottle Project and explained in a press release, “We are working on developing the world’s first ‘paper’ beer bottle made from sustainably-sourced wood fibers that is both 100% bio-based and fully recyclable.” Shortly after, the brewing company unveiled its first paper bottle for their Pilsner beer as proof of concept on their social media sites. These paper bottles, made out of a plant-based polymer called “PEF,” are expected to be fully recyclable and naturally degrade within a year, unlike their plastic counterparts. The sustainability company which creates these bottles hopes to have them ready for consumer use by 2023.
Paboco Technical Director Christina Carlsen says, “Being part of this journey from the beginning, inventing the technology and building the first machine for the paper bottle with my bare hands is my chance to make a difference. A difference towards a sustainable world for future generations. What we are doing is not just a new bottle; we are making a difference.”
This push towards eliminating single-use plastics comes off of last year’s momentum to reduce plastic straw use in many countries and corporations around the globe. Similarly, entire countries are trying their hardest to positively contribute to sustainability initiatives like China’s plan to ban plastic bags in all of its major cities by the end of 2020. Through these projects, we can see that the global community is taking responsibility for the growing environmental waste problem and uses innovation and human ingenuity to help ensure we have a clean, healthy Earth for many centuries to come.
Companies like Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, and Absolut support The Paper Bottle Company’s efforts to create sustainable, recyclable bottles.
While I applaud the efforts of these companies, who are making paper bottles to help mitigate the severe plastic pollution problem we face, I need to ask: Is this really their best solution? My big (and ongoing) question is: Why not hemp?
How do we reach these big corporations and educate them on the powers of Hemp? How do we bring Hemp Fiber awareness to industrialist that could use it to turn our failing industries around? Decorticators exist! Farmers and farmland are plentiful and Hemp fiber has zero THC. It can be made into hundreds of products we use daily — from plastic, paper, biofuel, building material, clothing, super-capacitors — and the list goes on. Does this not sound insane? No-one is talking about industrial hemp for our sustainable future.
I may be preaching to the choir here, or just maybe I’m just all alone, but someone, please, let me know how we turn this situation around. Hemp is standing by to save the world, and it needs your help.
We need to bring Hemp awareness to our world in every way we can. Remember – Hemp is not CBD, it’s our economic, industrial and environmental saving grace.
What can you do to help? Who do you know that can make a difference? Who can we highlight here at HempingtonPost.com to ensure that Hemp becomes the game changer we’ve all been waiting for?
I’m open to your thoughts and contributions: darlene@hempingtonpost.com
