PE or Polyethylene is one of the most common sources of conventional plastic.
Every year, 1.6 million barrels of oil are used to produce plastic bottles alone.
It can take up to 1,000 years for plastic to decompose in landfills.
In solid form, Polyethylene is often used in food handling. It could be toxic if inhaled and/or absorbed into the skin or eyes as a vapor or liquid (i.e., during manufacturing processes).
@Kirt McGhee, CEO of Pura Vida Bioplastics states:
“We are excited to push the envelope with biobased bioplastics to the level of 100% biobased. This progress is leading the way for other companies to follow suit. We are aimed at providing the best quality product that is eco-friendly and eliminates greenwashing. Having the certification is paramount in proving that we are honestly selling what we are promoting!”
Pollution caused by plastics has become a serious worldwide problem. Researchers and businesses believe that biodegradable, plant-based plastics – including those produced from hemp fiber – can become a sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternative for companies around the globe.
Researchers quoted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimate that more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s. Of that amount, about 60% has ended up in either landfills or the natural environment.
At the same time, the UNEP website noted, more than 99% of plastics “are produced from chemicals derived from oil, natural gas, and coal – all of which are dirty, non-renewable resources. If current trends continue, by 2050 the plastic industry could account for 20% of the world’s total oil consumption.”
However, as more cities and even countries consider or implement plastic bans, the market for biodegradable plastics has grown significantly. According to a report published last September by the Indian-based research firm Report Ocean, the biodegradable, plant-based plastic market in Europe alone was valued at $0.8 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $1.9 billion by 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9% during that span.
Paul Albee is a New Jersey-based consultant. His firm, P3N Technology, works with businesses on the development of additives for polymer plastics. He said that hemp fiber is both lightweight and has tensile strength, making it a plausible potential replacement for fiberglass and other mainstream plastics in a wide variety of uses: from construction to packaging to the transportation sector.
“Over the years, roughly the last ten years, there’s been a lot of interest in using natural fiber to … replace glass fiber in those types of applications,” he told Hemp Benchmarks. ”And even more so, the natural fibers would have acceptance in the marketplace in bio-based polymers, which are in the market today.”
The technology to create hemp bioplastics is still in its early stages. Most “hemp plastics” currently on the market are actually a blend of hemp fibers with other plastic compounds. Albee noted that the concept of plant-based plastics replacing their petroleum-based counterparts is being seen by more businesses as a cost-effective and sustainable option. However, he added, “it takes a group of disciplines to develop a product.”
The use of hemp fibers to manufacture plastic compounds is, at least for now, a complicated process. After decortication, the hemp fibers have to be stripped of their lignin – the organic polymer found in hemp and other plants that makes them rigid and “woody” – as well as its pectin protein, waxy deposits, and other biological compounds.
Some companies are already pioneering their own processes to create plastic compounds using hemp. Albee is currently working with Addisperse, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of modified plastics, as the company develops its own hemp-based plastic compounds. Anthony “AJ” Campione, the company’s operations manager, told Hemp Benchmarks that their work with hemp is still in the research-and-development phase. The company, he said, has a proprietary process to wash and chemically modify the surface of the hemp fibers, while also improving its color and removing any odor.
“We’re hoping to be producing either compounds, or even a master batch of 30%, 40% treated, modified hemp fiber, that can be used in automotive applications, packaging, toys,” Campione said. “Right now we are still working on developing the cleaning and treatment process, which we’ve got to scale up; then scaling the extrusion process and more testing. Once we get test approval, we can get interest from good customers.”
The tipping point for hemp plastic compounds, according to Campione, will be when a company that is “two or three levels away” from a General Motors-sized corporation begins selling high volumes of hemp plastics to large-scale businesses. “The reduction of fossil fuels, reducing petroleum can be huge,” he said. “I believe it’s the future to reduce the impact on our environment. … We need to do something, but we’re not there yet.”
Others in the hemp plastics sector agree the time is ripe for the industry. “It’s very early stages for hemp,” Glen Kayll, President and CEO of Hemp Plastics in Colorado, said during an interview last year with the Packaging Gateway website, “but it is fundamentally a disruptive technology, driven by massive deregulation, which continues to play out around the world. The big swing in North America was the CBD market,” he added, “which creates large amounts of industrial hemp waste that has made this opportunity more possible.”
For his part, Paul Albee believes the biggest challenge for a future hemp plastics market in the United States will be the creation of consistent and dependable supplies of domestic hemp fiber. Initial work on developing hemp plastics with Addisperse was done using hemp fiber from France, he told Hemp Benchmarks, but some sourcing of raw materials from domestic companies has followed.
Success, Albee noted, is dependent on at least three factors: the development of the needed technologies, an adequate number of raw material suppliers, and the establishment of a base of businesses to create hemp plastics.
“Like most things … [hemp plastic compounds] will end up being developed by smaller entities,” he said, “and those entities usually run into resource limitations. In an area like this, it’s a step at a time; the ability to marry technology with acceptable applications.” Albee estimated that the commercialization of hemp plastic compounds could begin within the next 12 to 18 months. “Once it starts, success builds on success and will accelerate,” he added. “But the grunt work to [reach] that first stage will take about one-and-a-half years.”
Many of us are trying to be more environmentally friendly in our daily lives. We try to engage with companies that seem to care about sustainability. We attempt to buy from producers that care about the environment or at least claim to. While some of this may be rather confusing, there are some basics of being environmentally friendly that you probably learned about as a child. So you know outright that all plastics are bad.
But is this actually true? Are there good plastics out there? What is the difference between the plastics we often engage with and bioplastics, for example? We’re looking into what we think we know about plastics, and what the reality of working with plastics is.
Plastic has been connected with our current environmental crisis, and with good reason. We are hugely reliant on plastic for a variety of different products. It can cheaply replace many more expensive (and sometimes environmentally friendlier) products. It’s also very malleable, and be hard or soft, or, stretchy depending on what we need. There are clearly plastic products, like for example trash bags; and there are products that contain plastic without many of us realizing it, like some clothing textiles.
There are several issues with using plastic so heavily. For example, some of the chemicals used in plastics can trigger allergies and sensitivities in some consumers. But perhaps more prevalently, plastic is contributing to our environmental crisis in that it doesn’t break down easily. When thrown away, plastic can take up space in landfills for centuries. According to some analysts, a PLA plastic bottle may take up to 1,000 to decompose in a landfill.
But are there good plastics? You may have heard of bioplastics, but you may not understand what they are. Bioplastics are made up of renewable resources, like vegetable oils and fats, woodchips, corn starch, straw, and even recycled food waste. They can also be made of natural polymers.
Many, but not all bioplastics are biodegradable. The bioplastics that are biodegradable have a great advantage, as they’re not only biodegradable but made from renewable resources. However, you can’t take for granted that the bioplastics you’re engaging with are biodegradable.
Making environmentally friendly choices as a consumer will always require research. Make sure that you know what you’re doing, and engage with products responsibly.
1 – PET
Plastics that belong to group number one are made out of polyethylene terephthalate or PET. It holds the number one spot because of its widespread utility. It is mostly used for food and drink packaging purposes due to its strong ability to prevent oxygen from getting in and spoiling the product inside.
2 – HDPE
Technical name – High-Density Polyethylene – it’s an incredible resistant resin used for grocery bags, milk jugs, recycling bins, agricultural pipe, but also playground equipment, lids, and shampoo bottles among others. Because it’s made with long unbranched polymer chains it’s much stronger and thicker than PET. Also, it is relatively hard and resistant to impact and can be subjected to temperatures of up to 120 °C without being affected. As far as its disposal is concerned, HDPE is accepted at most recycling centers in the world, as it is one of the easiest plastic polymers to recycle.
3 – PVC
Polyvinyl chloride is the world’s third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer. It comes in two basic forms: rigid and flexible. In its rigid form, PVC is largely used in the building and construction industry to produce door and window profiles and pipes (drinking and wastewater). When mixed with other substances, It can be made softer and more flexible and applied to plumbing, wiring, and electrical cable insulation and flooring.
4 – LDPE
Contrary to HDPE, LDPE is characterized by low-density molecules, giving this resin a thinner and more flexible design. It has the simplest structure of all the plastics, making it easy and cheap to produce. Used in plastic bags, six-pack rings, various containers, dispensing bottles, and most famously for plastic wraps, is not often recycled through curbside programs.
5-PP
Polypropylene is the second-most widely produced commodity plastic and its market is forecasted to grow even more in the following years. Hard and sturdy, it can withstand high temperatures and is found in Tupperware, car parts, thermal vests, yogurt containers, and even disposable diapers.
Fun fact: because it is VERY resistant to fatigue, PP is usually used for living hinges (the thin piece of plastic that allows a part of a product to fold or bend from 1 to 180 degrees).
6 – PS
Polystyrene is the sixth type of plastic on the list and it can be solid or foamed. It is a very inexpensive resin per unit weight and easy to create, for these reasons it can be found everywhere: from beverage cups, insulation, packing materials to egg cartons and disposable dinnerware. Perhaps better known by its commercial name – Styrofoam – it’s highly inflammable and dangerous as it can leach harmful chemicals, especially when heated (which often happens because, as it’s found in disposable take-out containers, people oftentimes microwave it to heat up the food inside it).
Environmentally speaking it’s among the worst types of plastic: first, it is regarded as not biodegradable. Second, polystyrene foam blows in the wind and floats on water, due to its low specific gravity. Animals do not recognize it as artificial and may mistake it for food causing serious effects on the health of birds or marine animals that might swallow it.
In addition, polystyrene is not accepted in curbside collection recycling programs and is not separated and recycled where it is accepted. To sum up, it’s a no-go.
7 – OTHER PLASTIC
If the plastic cannot be identified in the six types above-mentioned, then it will be included in group number 7. The best-known plastics of this group are polycarbonates (PC) used to build strong, tough products. Polycarbonates are commonly used for eye protection in the creation of lenses for sunglasses, sport, and safety goggles. But they can also be found on mobile phones and, more frequently, in compact discs (CD).
In recent years, the use of these resins has been controversial: the basis of this controversy is their leaching that, occurring at high temperature, releases bisphenol A, a compound that is on the list of potential environmental hazardous chemicals. Moreover, the decomposition of BPA in landfills does not occur meaning that this chemical will be persistent in the ground and will eventually find its way into water bodies contributing to aquatic pollution. On top of this, plastics number 7 are almost never recycled.
Even just a couple of decades ago, you probably didn’t see nearly as many advertisements that focused on the eco-friendliness or the sustainability of products. In this day and age, it’s extremely common for companies to engage with this type of language in order to advertise their products. Some companies are making a strong effort to be environmentally friendly, it’s true. Yet all of them know that looking environmentally friendly will allow them to appeal more strongly to a broader group of consumers.
With that being said, not all of them are being completely honest. Believe it or not, there is a term for making a company or product seem more eco-friendly than it actually is. Let’s look into this practice, and how common it is.
Greenwashing is essentially a marketing tactic. When engaging in greenwashing, a company or its PR team will spin a product, policy, or service as environmentally friendly, when in reality it may be much less so, or not very environmentally friendly at all. While greenwashing may not be outright lying (as companies can get in legal trouble for this) it is deceptive. Usually, marketing attempts to get around a product’s real relationship with the environment, without outright lying.
According to a study by the NIH conducted in 2009, more than 98% of consumer products that were claimed to be green made false green claims. You probably have engaged with products or services that have been greenwashed on some level, whether or not you actively bought the product or service because it was greenwashed.
Unfortunately, greenwashing can be hugely popular because people simply want to be more responsible in their purchasing practices. Consumers really do care about issues like sustainability and want to contribute to it through what they buy. When you need to buy a product anyway, it can be a huge relief to know that the brand you’re buying states that they care about or even contribute to sustainability.
However, if you really want to make environmentally friendly choices and be more environmentally friendly, you need to do more research. While it would be great if we could trust companies not to greenwash, we simply aren’t at that point. Don’t worry, you can still buy environmentally friendly products. It’s possible! You’ll just have to do your research.