1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 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. &quot;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,&quot; 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 Industrial Hemp Podcast https://www.lancasterfarming.com/community/podcasts_and_audio/ <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/41928275/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/5d8ec4/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/203674385