Dutch furniture maker launches carbon-negative hemp chair

Europe’s largest independent grower and processor of industrial hemp has teamed up with a Dutch bioplastics developer and a Dutch furniture manufacturer to make a recyclable, carbon-negative chair with a hemp fiber seat shell.

Netherlands-based HempFlax was chosen by furniture producer VepaDrentea to contribute the raw material to its hemp chair line, the company said in a statement released on Monday.

The biomaterial for the chair’s hard shell – composed of hemp fiber treated with a plant-based resin that glues the materials together – was developed by Plantics, a Dutch bio-plastics company.

“We had been looking for years for a biomaterial in which both the raw material and the binder are biological and recyclable,” said Janwillem de Kam, VepaDrentea managing director. “We are incredibly proud that we have achieved this after two years of research and that we are the first in the world to do so.”

Due to hemp’s ability to sequester CO2, the VepaDrentea ‘Hemp’ chair production process absorbs more CO2 than is emitted, making the range of chairs carbon negative.

De Kam said the new chair line was “an innovation that contributes in a very special way to our mission to combat raw material scarcity, climate change and CO2 emissions.”

The VepaDrentea ‘Hemp’ collection includes chairs and bar stools with various frames made of PEFC-certified wood or recyclable steel.

“Combining hemp fibres with an organic glue made from only natural materials provides an effective replacement for pollutive synthetic materials and has the potential to revolutionize many industries seeking to reduce their carbon footprint,” said HempFlax CEO Mark Reinders.

“As hemp-friendly policies gain traction at the EU and UN, I am very confident in the carbon-negative hemp industry’s place at the heart of the planet’s burgeoning circular bioeconomy,” he added.

With grow operations in the Netherlands, Germany and Romania, HempFlax produces and processes industrial hemp for CBD nutraceuticals, hemp-based plastic replacements, the construction sector, animal care, horticulture, and genetics and cultivation purposes.