Brian Westphal, ever the hemp visionary, has announced his intentions to manufacture a plastic hemp skateboard as part of his goal to spread awareness about ecological manufacturing using biological composite materials and 3D printing, according to an interview with the Seattle-based Ganjapreneur website.
Westphal said he became interested in industrial hemp after learning how strong, available and versatile it is.
“Hemp offers many benefits to our current methods of manufacturing paper, textiles, houses, and of course, plastics,” Westphal said. “Saving the amount of energy used, reducing carbon emissions, and the amount of water used during cultivation” all combine to make hemp ecologically beneficial, according to Westphal, who asked why bio-plastics and industrial hemp are not more prevalent.
As for the skateboards, Lotus Boards website promises they are coming soon and will be light, fast and ecological while promoting hemp and bio-based manufacturing alternatives.
But nothing is new under the sun.
Henry Ford spent over a decade researching and building his Model-T car, which was partially constructed from hemp and other bio-plastic organic products. It was also designed to run off hemp bio-fuel. Ford called his car “grown from the soil” with hemp plastic panels that were said to be ten times stronger than steel.
Other uses for industrial hemp include plastics, fuel and cleaning up soil contamination following nuclear or other natural disasters.
