If you are not aware of our plastic crisis I encourage you to read my last post:
Hemp plastic is a bioplastic made using industrial hemp.
There are many different types of hemp plastic; from standard plastics reinforced with hemp fibers, to a 100% hemp plastic made entirely from the hemp plant.
Hemp plastic is recyclable and can be manufactured to be 100% biodegradable. The most common type of hemp plastics are those plastics which infuse hemp fibers.
The benefit of infusing hemp fibers lies in that less plastic is used (less oil, less pollution) and a more durable, biodegradable product is created. Sometimes, the oil used in conventional plastics can also be replaced with renewable resource feedstocks including cellulose from hemp, microbially-grown polymers, or those extracted from starch.
Hemp plastic can be five times stiffer and 2.5 times stronger than polypropylene (PP) plastic. It also does not pose the health and safety risks associated with certain plastics that are reinforced with glass fibers.
Hemp plastic has the ability of being implemented in standard injection molding machines with no modifications needed. Current research into this field has produced fire-retardant products in UL94 V-0, V-1, and V-2 grades
More than 300m tonnes of plastic were produced in 2014 and that is expected to swell to nearly 2,000m tonnes by 2050 on current trends, a recent UN report said. While the exact amount that reaches the oceans is not known, the report concluded: “plastic debris, or litter, in the ocean is now ubiquitous.”
Many people have voiced their concerns about hemp bioplastic not being a viable solution to the ocean plastic build up because they claim the plastic will sink, not exposing them to U.V. light which helps break them down, and with temperatures relatively low in the ocean it may also hinder it's ability to biodegrade. However, the pollution on land can be vastly improved with this method, but it may be that we need multiple solutions to tackle this problem.
Five years ago, a Dutch teenager named Boyan Slat gained global recognition for a solution he devised in a high school science fair. He dreamed up a passive ocean trash collection device that would collect ocean plastic without harming marine life. And 5 years later his dream is becoming a reality. Thank fuck for that.
NOW THE LARGEST CLEANUP IN HISTORY IS UNDERWAY!
(OVER 5 TRILLION PIECES OF PLASTIC CURRENTLY LITTER THE OCEAN)
Trash accumulates in 5 ocean garbage patches, the largest one being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California. If left to circulate, the plastic will impact our ecosystems, health and economies. Solving it requires a combination of closing the source, and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean.
The Ocean Cleanup project has developed advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. A full-scale deployment of their systems is estimated to be able to clean up 50 % of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.
Most recent update from the ocean clean up project:
So There You Have It!
2 fantastic solutions are available now to help combat our global plastic pollution crisis. Another great solution would be to stop using plastic as much as possible and make sure to clean up after yourself!
Sources And Resources:
http://www.hempplastic.com/
http://hempwaterbottles.tripod.com/what-is-hemp-plastic.html
http://www.gwe2011.org/biodegradable-plastics-solution-or-problem/
https://www.theoceancleanup.com/
http://thefreethoughtproject.com
http://facebook.com/naturalcuresnotmedicine
https://www.youtube(dot)com/watch?v=du5d5PUrH0I
If you think more people need to be aware of our massive plastic pollution problem do us all a favor and punch that upvote button in the face.
Follow @thedonfreeman for more.
If you want to learn more about Hemp or how big this ocean plastic problem is check out some of my previous posts about these topics:
https://steemit.com/cannabis/@thedonfreeman/cannabis-hemp-is-the-most-useful-herb-on-earth-you-ll-never-think-about-cannabis-the-same-again-after-reading-this-over-700
https://steemit.com/animals/@thedonfreeman/our-oceans-are-full-of-plastic-action-is-needed-animals-are-dying-at-alarming-rates-with-stomachs-full-of-plastic