Plastic waste is a major problem facing the world today. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, “every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes,” and “every year 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas.”

In addition to ending up in the world’s bodies of water, a significant amount of plastic waste also ends up in landfills, and since plastic takes as long as 500 years to decompose, it will be around for a long time. That is all the more reason to seek out viable alternatives.

Packaging materials are the largest source of global plastic waste, with food packaging accounting for more than 40% of plastic packaging material waste. The hemp plant is a sustainable alternative source for packaging, and hemp byproducts as a source for packaging were the focus of a recent collaborative research effort conducted by scientists affiliated with Virginia Tech (United States) and Kyung Hee University (South Korea). The researchers’ findings were published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

“This study presents the fabrication and characterization of fully bio-based molded fiber composites using industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) hurds, starch, and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) for sustainable single-use packaging applications. Hemp hurds, a low-value agricultural byproduct, were directly upcycled into value-added molded fiber composites by varying their loadings to evaluate their influence on rheological, mechanical, and morphological properties.” the researchers wrote.

“Among all formulations, the composite containing 20 g of hemp hurds (H20) exhibited the most balanced properties, achieving high compressive (8.70 ± 0.34 MPa), flexural (7.56 ± 0.51 MPa), and impact strength (13.83 ± 1.19 J/m), comparable to or exceeding those of the higher-loading formulation containing 28 g of hemp hurds (H28). Compressive strength increased by more than 300% compared with conventional molded pulp reported in the literature, while flexural strength nearly doubled (∼90% increase) from H12 to H20.” the researchers found.

“These findings demonstrate a value-added upcycling strategy that converts underutilized hemp byproducts into high-performance molded fiber packaging materials composed entirely of bio-derived constituents.” the researchers concluded.

According to Fortune Business Insights, “The global food packaging market size was valued at USD 533.22 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow from USD 564.02 billion in 2026 to USD 930.89 billion by 2034, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.46% during the forecast period.”