Packaging, whether plastic or paper, is an integral part of everyday life, but ends up in the bin after a short time. This wastes valuable resources. Instead of cutting down trees to obtain cellulose for the packaging industry, PAPACKS relies on industrial hemp. Founded in 2013, the Cologne-based company has now established its own supply chain for certified industrial hemp with Ukrainian Hemp, thereby securing access to the renewable raw material on an industrial scale.

Supply chain established for industrial hemp production

Despite more than three years of war in Ukraine, PAPACKS says it has succeeded in establishing an industrial infrastructure to process the renewable raw material into fibre casting, pulp and packaging, thereby establishing a regional, regenerative value chain. PAPACKS is thus the first company in the world to offer a scalable, certified and sustainable alternative to wood pulp and plastic on an industrial scale.

Hemp fibre products are recyclable

The special fibre casting technology developed by PAPACKS makes it possible to process recycled paper fibres or virgin fibres for food packaging as well as plant fibres from green waste, industrial hemp, algae, bagasse and miscanthus. The hemp fibres are not only recyclable, but can also be used in a variety of ways. They can be used to produce everything from trays, containers, capsules and moulded packaging parts to paper and composite materials. "We are not simply replacing a raw material. We are scrutinising an entire system. Industrial hemp enables us to decouple packaging from the principle of deforestation - and at the same time establish truly circular material cycles in Europe," explains PAPACKS founder and CEO Tahsin Dag. The first products based on industrial hemp are set to be launched on the market by the end of 2025.

By establishing industrial hemp as a raw material, the PAPACKS team is in line with the new EU packaging regulation that came into force in February. It stipulates that all packaging must be reusable or recyclable by 2030.

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