Heartland, Ravago leverage engineered hemp additives for next-gen plastic resins

Heartland (Detroit, Mich., U.S.), a biotech company that engineers hemp fibers as additives for plastics, and Ravago Manufacturing Americas (Orlando, Fla., U.S.) have executed a joint development agreement to create what is said will be the next generation of plastic (polymer) resins. This collaboration aims to drive material innovation for companies that buy large volumes of plastic. Heartland’s hemp additives will reportedly help these manufacturers reduce the cost, weight and carbon footprint of the raw materials they rely on. More specifically, Heartland expects to build the U.S.’s first reliable industrial hemp supply chain to provide additives for manufacturers that use plastics.

Ravago says it is one of the largest plastic recyclers, compounders and distributors. Ravago and its subsidiaries service more than 50,000 customers globally across 325 facilities in 55 countries. Annually, the company supplies more than 6.6 million metric tons of polymer and rubber. 

By leveraging carbon-negative and renewable plastic additives like industrial hemp, Ravago believes it can offer composite products that are stronger, lighter, cheaper and more sustainable. Use of Heartland’s hemp additives will enhance a polymer’s thermal and acoustic properties, as well as help prolong the life of Ravago’s materials that use recycled content.

According to Heartland, its engineered hemp additives reduce the carbon footprint of virgin plastics by as much as 44%. Heartland 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.

Heartland has worked alongside Ravago to engineer its hemp materials as renewable additives for plastics. Ravago’s R&D team has, in turn, guided Heartland in engineering products that do not require additional retooling costs for plastic compounders and molders.

After the 2022 farming cycle, Heartland estimates that it will be able to process more than 100,000,000 pounds 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.