Farmers were allowed to legally cultivate industrial hemp after the 2018 farm bill was passed. Before the plant was banned, it was widely grown in different parts of the country. The plant’s seed, grain, and fiber are used in different industries, including the pharmaceutical, animal care, construction, and fashion industries. Retailers and consumers in the fashion industry are keen on using the plant in their many processes, as it provides a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials as well as cotton. This interest continues to grow as the environmental crisis in fashion also intensifies. Synthetic fibers are cheaper to mass-produce, which may explain why they account for 60% of global fiber consumption. The issue isn’t mass production; rather, it’s the minute pieces of plastic shedding from clothes made from these materials that are the problem. These micro-plastics make up almost 35% of micro-plastics in the ocean. Additionally, natural fibers require a lot of resources for production to occur. For instance, cotton needs roughly 712 gallons of water in order to produce a T-shirt from the material.
CannabisNewsWire, 11/17/2021 04:20:00