Bast Fiber Tech and the Rise of Hemp in Nonwoven Hygiene

2025-06-18

This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we’re talking about wipes. And diapers. And makeup pads. And all the other throwaway hygiene products we barely think about — but use every day. Most of these single-use items are made from plastic. Why? Because plastic is cheap, consistent, and engineered to run smoothly on fast-moving machines. But that convenience comes at a cost: landfill waste, microplastic pollution and a total disconnect from the land. But what if we could change tha...

This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we’re talking about wipes.

And diapers. And makeup pads. And all the other throwaway hygiene products we barely think about — but use every day.

Most of these single-use items are made from plastic.

Why?

Because plastic is cheap, consistent, and engineered to run smoothly on fast-moving machines.

But that convenience comes at a cost: landfill waste, microplastic pollution and a total disconnect from the land.

But what if we could change that? What if the raw material for these essential products didn’t come from oil — but from agriculture? From the hemp fields, even?

This week, we talk to Jason Finnis from Bast Fiber Technologies, a company working to make that shift real — using hemp fiber to replace plastic in nonwoven hygiene products.

Our guest is Jason Finnis, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Bast Fiber Technologies, a clean-tech fiber company with operations in North Carolina and Germany. Jason’s been working to bring hemp fiber into hygiene and personal care products for more than 30 years — not as a novelty, but as a high-performance alternative to synthetic materials.

We talk about:

• The massive and often invisible role of nonwovens in our daily lives

• The hidden microplastics in wipes, pads and tampons — and why it matters

• Why hemp fiber is a smart material for hygiene: absorbent, soft and compostable

• What BFT looks for in hemp fiber: long, clean and consistent

• The importance of regional supply chains and local farm partnerships

• How consumer pressure, brand demand and European policy are aligning to create real momentum

Jason shares his journey from selling hemp out of a VW bus in the ’90s to helping build a future where everyday products are cleaner, greener and made from plants, not petroleum.

Learn More:

Bast Fiber Technologies

https://www.bastfibertech.com

Global Hemp Fiber Summit – July 10–11 at NC State University

https://hempinitiatives.com/fiber-summit

Thanks to our sponsor:

HEMI – The Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative

Learn more at HempInitiatives.org

Produced by Eric Hurlock and Justin Berger

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