Resources

Our hemp plastic is a 100% plant-based and chemical free fiber-reinforced biocomposite. Our formulation is 30% micronized hemp hurd and 70% PLA, and we use bio-based binders.

Our reclaimed ocean plastic has been sorted so it’s 100% HDPE, which is a plastic number 2 and very easy to recycle. Our goal is to remove plastic from the ocean and reintroduce it to the marketplace. Recovered ocean plastic can replace almost any plastic product being made today, and we want to help people understand how to better reuse existing resources to reduce pollution.

Hemp Press’ hemp paperboard is 25% hemp and 75% post-consumer recycled paper.

Hemp is both rapidly renewable and regenerative, making it an ideal feedstock for bioplastics. Hemp grows faster than other industrial crops. It requires less water and zero pesticides. It presents a superior carbon sequestration potential as 1 metric ton of hemp sequesters 1.5 metric tons of carbon, and it remediates the soil so it’s an ideal rotational crop. Furthermore, the domestic hemp industry is growing by over 30% per year and has the potential to reinvigorate economically stifled agricultural communities across the United States.

Each year, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean. This makes plastic pollution an extremely abundant “stranded resource”, and reclaimed ocean plastic can replace almost any plastic product being made today. There is absolutely no reason to use a virgin petroleum resin for single-use products like packaging. Ultimately, our goal is to remove all plastic from the ocean and reintroduce it to the marketplace to reinvent the waste stream as we know it.

We specialize in finding and creating commercially viable use cases for new and emerging materials in the sustainable packaging space using bioplastics, biocomposites, reclaimed plastics, and other sustainable materials. Our R&D team is exploring materials for flexible, rigid, glass, and paperboard packaging.

Our commitment to sustainability goes beyond simply offering ecologically conscious products. We believe that packaging should be regenerative and help heal the environment throughout its lifecycle. In an increasingly global economy, localization is more important than ever – especially when it comes to biomaterials. We are proud to be a "Made in the USA" company committed to supporting domestic agriculture and domestic manufacturing. Furthermore, the cannabis industry and the industrial hemp industry have the potential to create positive economic, social, and environmental change for our country and our planet.

The current linear "take-make-dispose" economic model has led to scarcity, volatility, and unaffordable pricing. We need to transition to a circular economic model. A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. It is meant to build economic, natural, and social capital by adhering to three guiding principles: (1) design out waste and pollution, (2) keep products and materials in use, and (3) regenerate natural systems.

There is public confusion surrounding the terms “biodegradable” and “compostable.” Biodegradable refers to a material’s ability to “break down, safely and relatively quickly, by biological means, into the raw materials of nature.” Compostable refers to a material’s ability to biodegrade “in a composting environment in a relatively short time, capable of producing usable compost.”

Bio-based refers to a material that is "wholly or partially derived from biomass." Bio-based materials are not necessarily biodegradable. For instance, traditional non-biodegradable plastics like PET, PP, and PE can be derived from biomass. Beware of petroleum-based plastics marketed as "oxo-degradable" or "biodegradable in landfills." These are traditional plastics treated with "biodegradability" additives. These additives break traditional plastics down into microplastics, which are more likely to be consumed by wildlife and are much harder to remove from our natural environment.

Waste recovery presents one of the largest challenges standing between where we are now and achieving a more circular economy. Packaging waste is a large part of this problem, and Sana Packaging is thrilled to be spearheading the movement to make the industry more eco-friendly.
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About 50% of the plastics that society produces are used for disposable products, like packaging. These products typically become trash within a single year of production and can take 400+ years to degrade. Packaging also accounts for 30% of our municipal solid waste in the United States. For reference, durable goods and nondurable goods are the next largest categories, both at 20%. Furthermore, only 40% of packaging waste is recovered while 60% is landfilled.

The US has created over 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic since society began mass-producing plastics in the 1950s. Of these 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. And of these 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic, only 9% has been recycled while 79% has ended up in landfills or our natural environment.

If we don’t address this problem, there will be over 12 billion metric tons of plastic polluting our landfills and natural environment by 2050.

Waste recovery is one of the largest challenges we have to face on our path towards a more circular economy, and packaging is the largest challenge facing waste recovery. Recovery is a challenge for all packaging materials – whether they’re fossil-based, bio-based, recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable. Recovery includes recycling, composting, and other waste management strategies.

The future of packaging is circular and regenerative! We need to transition away from virgin petroleum-based materials and use biobased, reclaimed, and recycled materials in closed loop systems. Long-term, we need to move towards biobased materials for all single-use packaging. More specifically, we need to move towards rapidly renewable and regenerative feedstocks for all packaging materials.