Dive Brief:

• Colorado-based industrial hemp company element6 Dynamics and Germany-based molded fiber packaging manufacturer Papacks launched a joint venture on Tuesday, called Renw, which will manufacture molded fiber packaging made with industrial hemp.
• Renw, based in New York, plans to build 10 regional production facilities in rural areas across the United States. It will partner with local farmers to adopt industrial hemp as a rotational crop, which then will be used exclusively as a feedstock for the fully integrated manufacturing facilities.
• Renw currently is considering four sites and aims for the first one to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2026. The company anticipates each facility will produce 30 tons of industrial hemp pulp per day, said Kimberly Kovacs, CEO of Renw and element6 Dynamics, via email.

Dive Insight:

The partners’ overall intent with launching Renw is to “eliminate the use of plastic and minimize reliance on forestry assets in packaging and consumer goods,” Kovacs said. The partners say industrial hemp material also doesn’t compromise performance or cost.

Kovacs has detailed environmental benefits of using industrial hemp instead of tree fibers. She says that the hemp is regenerative, locks carbon into the soil, requires less bleaching during production and emits less carbon dioxide equivalent per ton of pulp produced compared with the conventional kraft pulp process: the pulping technology is sulfur-free, resulting in about 50% fewer greenhouse gases.

Renw is licensing technology from both Papacks and e6D, she said. Both teams will offer support in operating the new joint venture, while Papacks will continue to independently develop its Papacks America business unit.

“Both entities contributed intellectual property and will be supporting the independent operations of RENW as it builds facilities in the US,” Kovacs said. “The two companies envision continuing to work collaboratively to ensure the RENW is successful.”

She noted that Papacks has four molded fiber “gigafactories” in Europe “that are capable of both R&D and production which enables us to meet the immediate needs of brands prior to opening our first facility in the U.S.”

Each Renw facility will hire about 50 people. Each plant will have six production lines that can produce an array of customized molded fiber products. Some product areas that Renw intends to target include transportation trays and containers, single-use coffee pods, cosmetics packaging and packaging for dairy products, such as yogurt.

Industrial hemp will be the key feedstock at all of the plants, but the molded fiber production technology is flexible in what feedstocks can be used; the final fiber mix for each finished product will depend on customer specifications. The facilities’ proximity to customers will allow for more economical adaptation of production lines to meet client needs — and a lower carbon footprint — Kovacs said.

This is the latest among recent innovations for molded fiber packaging. Overall, the sector is expanding as demand increases for plastic replacements, said speakers at the International Molded Fiber Association conference this month. Growth is driven by innovations, they said, such as automation advancements, entering new end markets and the emergence of dry molded fiber manufacturing.

This month, Dart Container announced that it’s licensing Sweden-based dry molded fiber company PulPac’s production technology to make lids. And this summer, Starbucks confirmed that it’s working with Finland-based Huhtamaki to introduce molded fiber lids for cold beverages that will replace plastic lids.