500-ZH Hemp Bioplastic Scale

The world's first electronic item made from Hemp Plastic. As part of our commitment to weighing technology and the environment we are proud to introduce the first scale ever made from a natural composite material.

The new My Weigh 500-ZH digital mini scale is the sort of invention that can change the world.

This scale is made from a new eco-friendly hemp composite. Hemp plastic was invented in Germany several years ago. My Weigh is the first company to purchase this new amazing material and to acquire distribution rights for it. The Hemp Plastic for this scale is made in Germany. The plastic is cold-injected in a new method, to form the housing for the 500-ZH.

We are extremely proud of this new product. It takes a company such as My Weigh with the foresight and resources to bring such a material into the marketplace. Hemp Plastic is difficult and expensive to produce.

Currently this model is sold at near cost in order to promote natural composite plastic and launch it into the marketplace.

Why Hemp for Eco-Plastic?

We have been experimenting for years with ways to produce an 'earth friendly' plastic body for our weighing instruments. The advent of Hybrid cars made us realize that perhaps we should look at creating a hybrid plastic. Thus a new composite was created using Hemp and Recycled plastics. Hemp had to be used instead of other natural fibers due to the inherent strength of the Hemp fiber. Hemp fiber is one of the strongest natural fibers on the planet and it's natural resilient qualities made it the only choice for our hybrid composite plastic. We experimented with flax fiber, canvas, and crushed soy, but none could function at the same level as commercial hemp.

If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will increase by 250,000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter, it's waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare.*

Over 200 billion pounds (100 million tons) of plastics are produced each year.

45% of all plastics are produced/consumed in the United States.

A composite is a solid product consisting of two or more distinct phases, including a binding material (matrix) and a fibrous or particulate material.

Plastics have successfully competed with other materials on account of their 'low cost'. An example is a zipper. Previously made of metal, a plastic zipper performs as well as its predecessor. The lesser durability is not an issue as it often lasts long after the application using the zipper fails.

In the United States over 60 billion pounds of plastic are discarded into the waste stream each year (from 4 billion in 1970). Most of this is in Municipal Solid Waste.

Beach litter is 40-60 percent plastic, much of which often floats in from the sea. Such beach litter is hazardous to birds, fish and animals who die from ingesting it or becoming entangled in it.

Wide-scale postconsumer recycling of plastics is relatively new. Modern plastics are becoming harder to recycle.

The word plastic comes from the Greek plastikos, meaning able to be shaped.

Plastics manufactured today, with few exceptions, are made from synthetic polymers. But polymers also occur in nature. They are produced by plants, animals and microorganisms through biochemical reactions.

Biodegradable plastics are not new. In the biblical Book of Exodus, Moses' mother built his ark from rushes, pitch, and slime, a composite that might now be called a fiber-reinforced bioplastic. Natural resins- like amber, shellac, and gutta percha have been mentioned throughout history, including during the Roman times and the Middle Ages.

My Weigh is proud to be the first company to launch Hemp Plastic into the marketplace and we hope it will be a success. It is important to the future of the planet that Hybrid materials such as Hemp Plastic replace conventional petroleum based plastics as quickly as possible.