GREEN PACKAGING FROM HEMPORIUMShale TinklerWhen Hemporium was established by Duncan Parker in 1996, one of his core intentions was to showcase and promote industrial hemp for its potential to heal our planet.
Coming from a line of environmentalists, Parker is a dedicated and passionate proponent of nature conservation and sustainability. As one of the most sustainable and eco-friendly resources available to us, Hemp seemed like the perfect fit.

As Parker says “Our passion is broader than hemp; it’s about bringing change to the way people treat the planet and hemp is a tool that people can use to do this. Whether you’re building with hemp, wearing it or eating it, hemp enables you to radically shrink your carbon footprint. We are definitely pioneering – ensuring that we have a triple bottom line approach that doesn’t just focus on profit, but on people and our planet in equal measure.”

Hemp grows up to 4 meters tall in just a few months. This speedy growth cycle and abundance of plant material makes it a highly renewable resource. The speed at which hemp grows also means that it absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This helps to counter the effects of global warming and means that products made from hemp can be carbon neutral or even carbon negative.

Hemp is also eco-friendly because it does not require many pesticides or fertilizers when it grows. This means less pollution and less harsh or harmful chemicals ending up in our soil, air and water supply. Hemp’s extensive root system can even detoxify soil by absorbing contaminants like heavy metals.

Hemp is also incredibly versatile with thousands of potential applications. Just about part of the plant can be used, and the variety of applications is staggering. Everything from food, fuel and clothing to medicine, housing and so much more.
Few resources other than hemp can provide solutions to so many of our problems at so little cost to our planet.
Why not unlock the plant, because we believe that if we unlock cannabis then we're able to extract large quantities and we're able to then make sure that it's cheaper towards the end consumer. We're able to help more people with medicine. As soon as it becomes available from biomass more people will be able to plant it and everyone will have the access they need.

Even when we look at its uses outside of the medical, recreational, and dietary spheres, cannabis is used to make paper, plastic, building materials and much, much more. The amount of global research being put into the many, varied, possible applications of the cannabis plant and its positive impact on the many daunting global issues, makes it the obvious way forward, especially for a country blessed with the perfect circumstances needed for the plant to flourish. Literally nothing goes to waste.
This brings us to one of Earth’s most serious challenges of our times. That of pollution, and especially pollution from packaging. As humans multiply exponentially, we continue to consume without always having a sustainable strategy for dealing with our waste.
Many forms of packaging are designed to be used once and then discarded. Landfills and oceans are quickly filling up with waste which threatens our wildlife, alters our ecosystems and poses risk to human health too.
This is why Hemporium is now offering green packaging solutions made from biodegradable hemp textiles.
Managing director Philippa Mohr recently developed a sustainable packaging solution for luxury natural skin care brand Skin Creamery.

Skin Creamery founder, Hannah Rubin had the following to say: “Philippa and her team have made the process of creating our roll-up bags so easy and simple. We were looking for an environmentally friendly packaging option to hold a select range of our skincare products and I am so happy and grateful that we found Hemporium to manage the process from start to finish. The turnaround time was amazing, the quality and craftsmanship were excellent and I would definitely recommend Philippa and her team for any eco-friendly packaging options."
If you are looking to help your brand tread a little more lightly, or wish to add an eco-friendlier element to your product packaging, then Hemporium can help.

Contact them via their website www.hemporium.co.za, or email Philippa directly on philippa@hemporium.com for more information.
Photo Credit: Skin Creamery