The Hype About Hemp
This week I was curious about sustainable materials or plants that we don’t usually appreciate. I thought of hemp and ended up down a hemp rabbit hole. There is a lot you don’t know about hemp. Enough for a whole column. First and foremost, what exactly is hemp? I’ve never really known what exactly the difference is between hemp and marijuana - I might be the only one, but there seems to be a level of confusion here. To put it simply, marijuana is a variety of cannabis that contains more than 0.3% of THC and can induce psychotropic or euphoric effects, whereas hemp classifies varieties of cannabis that have less than 0.3% THC and don’t get you cooked. Unfortunately, this column is not about the potential environmental benefits of smoking a joint on the couch - however, please enlighten me if such benefits do exist.
Hemp’s uses are expansive, from health foods to clothing. But what strikes me most about the plant are its many environmental benefits. One of the greatest benefits of hemp cultivation is its ability to regenerate its surrounding soil. Once hemp matures and the seeds grow, its remains decompose in the soil. During this process (known as ‘retting’) the nutrients from the plant are soaked up and returned to the soil. By taking advantage of this natural fertilisation process, known as ‘phytoremediation’, farmers could potentially use hemp to clean up soil. Sustainable farming involves rotating crops in line with the changing seasons to maintain optimum soil nutrients. Cultivated annually, hemp could make future harvests more sustainable by naturally replenishing soil.
For years, industrial hemp has been used to produce fabrics and fibrous materials. The eco-friendly crop is an increasingly popular fibre for clothing. Hemp fibre has three times the tensile strength of cotton whilst remaining lightweight and absorbent. Importantly to note, farming hemp only uses half as much water as cotton. It takes 2700 litres of water to grow only a single kilogram of cotton, and water is running dry in many cotton-producing regions. Hemp can be grown easily without the use of harsh chemical pesticides which, of course, do no good for the environment. It’s a hardy crop with very little vulnerability to diseases and pests.
Hemp can also be turned into paper. In fact, it is actually a more suitable plant for paper production than wood pulp (what 90% of the world’s paper is currently made of). This is because hemp has a higher percentage of cellulose, which gives plants their structure. The more cellulose in a plant, the better it is for paper production. Hemp also has a much quicker crop yield. It takes around four months to reach maturity compared to the 20 to 80 years that trees can take. Plus, it can be recycled up to eight times, compared to just three times for paper made from wood pulp.
The benefits of hemp are endless, but sadly the stigma and politics surrounding the plant have halted the progression of hemp-based products. Luckily, in recent years we have several companies embracing these benefits. I’m excited to see what other sustainable materials will arise if we keep demanding and supporting environmental alternatives.