Lorenza Romanese — Hemp as a Building Block of the Bioplastics Economy

This is part nine of a ten-part podcast series documenting the European Industrial Hemp Association's 23rd Annual Conference in Poznan, Poland, at the Institute of Fiber Plants and Medicinal Medicine, June 10-12. View the whole series here. Lorenza Romanese is Secretary General of European Bioplastics, the Brussels-based trade association representing bio-based and biodegradable plastics across Europe. She came up through the European hemp industry, and while her day job is now bioplastics, she says her heart stays with hemp — which she argues is a building block of the European bioeconomy, not a niche crop. Her core message is that the technology already exists; what's missing is scale, and only regulation can force it. "We are not talking about innovation anymore. We have the technology, we have the ideas, we know how. We need to scale up. This is the game," she said. The barrier is cost. Bioplastics still make up just 0.5% of all plastic on the planet, and while consumers say they want to help the environment, they hesitate at the price. Romanese points to 2026 as a pivotal year, with several EU regulations on the table — including the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation — that could set binding targets and finally push bioplastics to scale. Learn More European Bioplastics european-bioplastics.org Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants (IWNIRZ) iwnirz.pl European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) eiha.org EIHA Conference eiha-conference.org Thanks to Our Sponsors Condor Seed condorseed.com HEMI — The Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative thegoodnessofhemp.org Bish Enterprises — FiberCut Hemp Harvesting bishenterprise.com/fibercut 1937 International 1937international.com