While it may not be able to replace every kind of plastic, hemp could be a sustainable alternative for many plastics currently being used in the market. Car manufacturer Henry Ford was ahead of his time when he said, “Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?”
In 1941, he produced a prototype of a hemp car. The body was made from a plastic type composite of 70% hemp mixed with straw and sisal. When asked about the strength of the car Ford showed onlookers that hitting the car with a club showed zero dents in the body. To think we could all be driving around in hemp-composite cars!
