Hemp: The Benefits of Expansion
It consumes CO2
One of the most environmentally impressive benefits of hemp is its ability to absorb Carbon-Dioxide, one of the key causes of Climate Change. It can absorb up to 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare. This makes it one of the fastest natural CO2-to-biomass conversion tools. Annually, hemp absorbs more of the compound per hectare than any other crop or commercial forestry.
It can decrease deforestation
For thousands of years, hemp was used as a material to make paper. This has decreased with the scale of the hemp industry and been increasingly replaced by timber. Increasing the size of the hemp industry around the world would decrease the number of trees cut down to be used in the paper industry.
Hemp paper remained popular until the mid-19th Century when paper made from timber became increasingly common.
It is recyclable
Yes, timber-sourced paper is recyclable, too. But, paper made from hemp fiber can be recycled more than twice as many times as its tree-sourced counterpart. Hemp fiber is also a great insulator, meaning it could replace fibreglass (a non-recyclable product).
Hemp fibre can also be made into bioplastics which are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than synthetic plastics.
It can improve soil quality
Hemp can grow almost anywhere, even in poor quality soil. Not only this, but it’s interlocking roots are great for preventing soil erosion, and its leaves for locking in Nitrogen. The crop has natural defences against pests, and its denseness almost eradicates the growth of weeds. This eliminates the need for pesticides and herbicides which can damage the soil.
The crop has also been found to absorb toxic materials from the soil, locking them in the plants’ roots. Hemp plants were even planted to help to clean up the nuclear spill at Chernobyl!
Hemp has been used by humans for thousands of years – mainly for making clothing and paper. Henry VIII made a national law stating that farmers must dedicate a fraction of their farm to growing the crop. This article has only scratched the surface of the benefits of hemp expansion. It is believed that crop could have up to 50,000 end uses, so why aren’t we making the most of it?