Enviornmental Benefits
The current climatic and economic scenario pushes toward the use of sustainable resources to reduce our dependence on petrochemicals and to minimize the impact on the environment. Plants are precious natural resources, because they can supply both phytochemicals and lignocellulosic biomass.
Hemp Needs Less Water: Hemp crops require less water than traditional crops such as cotton, soy, and corn. How hemp plants grow high makes no room for weeds, reducing the need for herbicides.
Hemp has the potential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
Soil Nutrition
Because of the functions in improving the soil quality, hemp is a prime candidate to be used for crop rotation programs to improve the yield of the main crop.
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Hemp can also remove toxins from the soil in a process called phytoremediation.
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hemp is a natural weed suppressor and could be grown without herbicides; it also suppresses levels of fungi and nematodes in the soil and can be grown without fungicides or pesticides
Stop Deforestation
Hemp benefits aren’t only limited to health; it’s also a sustainable crop. This means that it can be renewed at a rate that’s equal to or faster than it is consumed. Because hemp grows much more quickly and produces 4 times more raw material than trees, it’s a much better choice for making paper products. Industrial hemp can also be recycled up to 10 times. Wood-based paper can only be recycled 3 or 4 times.
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The ever-growing demand for paper products has created a problem with deforestation. Each day, the world loses more than 116 square miles of rainforest. When huge swaths of forests are cut down to make paper, the environment suffers. Deforestation adversely affects the world’s biodiversity, killing off wildlife and causing many species to become endangered. A switch to industrial hemp as a resource for paper products would help slow the destruction of the world’s remaining forests.
Hemp vs. Cotton for Clothing
Hemp uses less water and can produce up to 260% more fiber than cotton. The process for hemp-based clothing is also cleaner. The hemp bleaching agents used are peracetic acid or hydrogen peroxide, which are less environmentally harmful. Cotton bleaching uses heavy metals, chlorine bleach, formaldehyde, or benzidine. Such chemicals are linked to high environmental pollution.
When compared to cotton, hemp consumes one-third of the needed water. This metric, known as Water Footprint (WF), calculates the water required for textiles. But there are other advantages to using hemp for textiles over cotton.
A study by a university in the Netherlands adds even more benefits to hemp clothing. It says it’s softer, stronger, more durable, and breathable than cotton. It is also flame retardant and is unaffected by UV rays or moisture absorbent. Hemp fiber for ropes and other naval equipment is more robust and durable.