Industrial Hemp Materials Supplier and Plastic Recycler, Compounder and Distributor in Joint Development Venture

Industrial hemp materials supplier Heartland Industries and Ravago Americas, one of the world’s largest plastic recyclers, compounders and distributors, are in a joint development agreement to create the next generation of plastic resins. This collaboration aims to drive material innovation for companies that buy large volumes of plastic. Heartland says its hemp additives will help these manufacturers reduce the cost, weight, and carbon footprint of the raw materials they rely on every day.

As previously reported, Heartland is building America’s first reliable industrial hemp supply chain to provide additives for manufacturers that use plastics. After the 2022 farming cycle, Heartland estimates that its new facility in Holland, Mich., will be able to process over 1- million lb/yr of hemp additives that will be available for plastic compounding. Ravago and Heartland will continue to research and develop products to serve automotive, packaging, building materials, and other markets.

By leveraging carbon-negative and renewable plastic additives like industrial hemp, Ravago can offer composite products that are stronger, lighter, cheaper, and more sustainable. Not only will these plastics have enhanced thermal and acoustic properties, but Heartland's hemp additives help prolong the life of Ravago’s materials that use recycled content.

Heartland’s engineered hemp additives significantly reduce the carbon footprint of virgin plastics and the company is also focused on verifying the impact of hemp-filled recycled plastics versus traditional virgin plastics that are typically compounded with mineral fillers like talc and calcium carbonate, according to CEO and founder Jesse Henry.

Adds chairman and founder Tim Almond, “We work almost exclusively with PP, PE, ABS, nylon 6, PVC, and rubber applications. There are small applications in bioresins like PLA/PHA/Bio-PE, which we would love to see more of, but mostly in traditional commodity plastics. Any application using a mineral filler right now will see benefits from industrial hemp, including strength, weight, cost, and a carbon footprint reduction of as much as 44%. This is a simple integration for any manufacturer with a public sustainability mandate.”

Success so far has been in industrial packaging like pallets, totes, panels, as well as CPG (consumer packaged goods) products, says Almond.  “Our goal is to break deeper into the automotive, marine, and building material markets by empowering existing manufacturers to make more sustainable products by simply swapping additives. It is to our benefit that a lot of minerals are unavailable or expensive right now, leaving customers looking for alternative opportunities for their future products.”

According to Heartland’s founders, while Ravago is one of their key partners in product and market development, they are also in the midst of product development with dozens of plastic distributors and OEMs. Heartland has worked alongside Ravago to engineer their hemp materials as renewable additives for plastics. Ravago’s R&D team has guided Heartland in engineering products that do not require additional retooling costs for plastic compounders and molders.