By: Rubina Obaid
www.asianbiomass.com
Moharram Inc. have utilized a bacterial process to harness the elements within cannabis biomass and thereby created a biodegradable polymer that may be used on its own or be blended with other elements to form a unique composite plastic.
The time is here when we have to sow whatever we have reaped over the years, the sword of global warming is dangling nearer each passing day. While, unprecedented global pandemic has already changed the time upon us and brought devastating impact on our planet. The environmental action posed greater risk along with pressing need to address environmental issues with greater urgency. Substantial measures have been taken across the world, to significantly mitigate carbon emission whilst switching towards renewables and more sustainable green energy sources. Over 700 tonnes of plastic is produced somewhere on our planet every minute. Zoom only to the cannabis industry that is no less in adding fuel to fire and paving the way towards a more vulnerable situation for our world. Therefore, a Canadian project management company took an initiative to incorporate cannabis waste to create biodegradable plastic.
Moharram Ventures Inc launched Truly Green Plastic, in partnership with Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario. Tarek Moharram, the founder and president of Moharram Ventures said ” We have utilized a bacterial process to harness the elements within cannabis biomass and thereby created a biodegradable polymer that may be used on its own or be blended with other elements to form our unique composite plastic. When it is compared to similar biodegradable plastics, it has unique mechanical properties, while making it cost-competitive along with offering various consumer applications. According to the founder of the company, who proclaimed to have registered a unique concept which is novel and no other company has applied such approach yet.
Truly Green plastic will greatly help in mitigating the harmful environmental impact of both plastic and cannabis waste. As rapid expansion generates a significant amount of cannabis waste in the harvesting process. Truly Green Plastic is biodegradable which means it does not require commercial composting facilities such as a significant amount of heat, oxygen, or moisture to decompose. Moharram Ventures and Lambton college developed their partnership back in 2019, however, Truly Green Plastic also got approved by Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for $400,000 in federal government funding. Presently, the company is trying to focus on scaling up the production from cannabis biomass and further investigating its potential consumer applications.
“With Each passing minute, every kilogram of traditional fossil fuel plastic we fail to replace with Truly Green Plastic is costing the Earth thousands of years of plastic pollution,” says Moharram. He further added that, “There is growing evidence to suggest they actually breakdown into tiny fragments and float around in our world, drift about in our air, and have begun seeping into our food chain.” This bio-based plastic will revolutionize the whole plastic industry with its unique characteristic of decomposition, that also offers environment-friendly packaging solution to the industries. This breakthrough innovation is a game-changer as only 10% of cannabis production ends up being on the shelves in the markets whereas the rest of all can be used as biomass which is great for the environment and effective utilization of bio waste.
Reference links:
https://techalliance.ca/canadian-company-uses-cannabis-plant-waste-to-invent-truly-green-plastic/
