Here at Vermont Green FC, we love hemp. It’s an amazing, environmentally-friendly material, and right now we have some very stylish hemp beanies available in the club shop!
Here are some things you might not have known about this wonderful fiber:
- Hemp was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber, approximately 10,000 years ago. [1]
- Hemp is a biodegradable, environmentally-friendly alternative to everyday items that would typically get thrown into the trash and end up in a landfill. Hemp breaks down and returns organic material to the soil. Over 260 million tons of waste is produced each year, according to the EPA. Most of this waste ends up in landfills, and most of it is non-biodegradable. [1]
- Many beanies are made from Acrylic, a plastic created from fossil fuels through a chemical process. [2]
- Acrylic can last up to 200 years in landfills, releasing toxins that harm the local environment and the wildlife and humans that live nearby. [2]
- Hemp requires virtually no pesticide applications to cultivate. [3]
- Hemp grows deep root system, improving soil structure, and returns up to 60% of the nutrients it takes from the soil when dried in the field. [3]
- Hemp is known for its rapid growth and development, making it one of the most effective natural sources of carbon sequestration. University of Cambridge researchers found industrial hemp can be up to twice as effective at sequestering carbon as forests, depending on a number of factors. [5]
- For reference: “Industrial hemp absorbs between 8 to 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare (3 to 6 tonnes per acre) of cultivation.” “Comparatively, forests capture 2 to 6 tonnes of carbon per hectare (0.8 to 2.4 tonnes per acre), depending on the region, number of years of growth, type of trees, and other factors” [5]
- Hemp is recognized as one of the plants that could be used for land reclamation due to its deep root system and ability to efficiently remove soil contaminants. [4]