Graphene: The Solution to the World’s Plastic Crisis?

Our global food system runs on plastic packaging. This reliance, while necessary for transporting food to densely populated cities, has ignited a dual crisis for our environment and our health. With the world’s food supply needing to expand by 50% by 2050, the demand for food-contact materials is set to explode, pushing this crisis to a breaking point.

This challenge presents a monumental opportunity, one that will be seized by graphene.

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms—stronger than steel, lighter than paper, and more conductive than copper. One key ability will be for it to integrate into materials like plastic to dramatically improve them. Adding tiny amounts of graphene makes plastics significantly stronger (meaning less plastic is used) and allows for the replacement of toxic components like “forever chemicals.”

For years, this potential was locked in the lab, too expensive and difficult to produce at scale. That has now changed. Hydrograph Clean Power Inc., using a patented detonation synthesis method, is the first company to unlock the cheap, scalable production of high-quality graphene.

Incorporating Hydrograph’s pristine graphene into the roughly 40 million tonnes of plastic food packaging used globally each year will trigger incomprehensible improvements for human health and the planet. This isn’t just another technological advancement; it’s the solution to the plastic crisis.

What’s wrong with current plastic?

Globally, around 359 million tonnes of plastic are produced annually, with about 40% used for packaging, much of which is single-use and discarded immediately.

The two main concerns surrounding this absurd plastic usage is the impact on the environment and human health.

Environmental Concerns

Annually, 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers, and seas. Food packaging is a primary contributor. This harms marine life, with millions of animals, including birds, fish, and other organisms being killed by plastics annually, affecting nearly 2,100 species.

Globally, only 9% of plastic is recycled, while 50% is landfilled and another 20% is mismanaged, leading to widespread littering and soil contamination. Food packaging plastics form the bulk of this waste, releasing toxic chemicals like phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA) as they break down in soil and water.

Plastic production, heavily reliant on fossil fuels, emits massive greenhouse gases (232 million metric tons annually in the U.S. alone). This is equivalent to the emissions from 116 average coal-fired power plants. Air emissions from production include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates, with pollution linked to broad environmental harm, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem contamination.

Human Health

Plastics pose two main concerns to human health, both of which are being increasingly spoken about: microplastics and forever chemicals.

Microplastics are tiny particles shed from packaging during use. They enter the food chain and human body via ingestion, inhalation, or skin absorption, and we are only now beginning to recognize the negative impacts they can have. Studies are linking them to cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, low fertility, reproductive problems, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and impaired fetal development. Early-life exposure may increase risks of obesity, autism spectrum disorder, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Most alarming are the studies showing how ridiculously prevent microplastics are throughout almost everything we put in our bodies, and importantly, within our bodies. A recent study published in Nature Medicine in 2024 found that microplastics are present in all major human organs, including the brain, liver, and kidney. The study also documented a noticeable increase in brain microplastics among those with dementia.

Forever chemicals, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of over 4,700 compounds widely used in industrial and consumer products, including plastics. They are incredibly stable, which is why they are used so frequently, but also why they are called forever chemicals. PFAS persistently contaminate water and agricultural systems, inevitably entering the human body through the food chain.

These chemicals are notoriously hard for our bodies to get rid of, and have been linked to various health issues, including hormonal disruptions, immune dysfunction, and increased cancer risk. A study by NYU Langone Health in 2022 estimated that PFAS exposure costs Americans a minimum of $5.5 billion and potentially up to $63 billion annually. Childhood obesity linked to PFAS exposure was the largest contributor at $2.7 billion, alongside hypothyroidism in women, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, low birth weight, and many more conditions.

How Can Graphene Help?

Since graphene is incredibly strong and impermeable, its addition to plastics can significantly improve the material properties. This material improvement translates to environmental and health benefits in the following ways:

Reduced Waste and Landfill Burden: By improving mechanical strength, graphene allows for thinner packaging films while maintaining durability. This uses less plastic overall (potentially as much as 30-50%) leading to lower waste generation. Additionally, graphene composites can be designed for better recyclability and biodegradability, especially when integrated with biopolymers like chitosan or starch, where composites can be composted and degrade within 20 days. This addresses the issue where 91% of plastics aren’t recycled, reducing landfill and ocean pollution.

Reduced Food Waste: Graphene’s superior barrier properties reduce oxygen, moisture, and UV permeability, extending food shelf life and cutting food waste, which indirectly lowers plastic production needs. Lower food waste also means less energy and resources spent farming to replace the spoiled foods and feed a growing population.

Climate Mitigation: Less overall plastic use per package (due to graphene strength gains) will reduce the global plastic demand. Since plastic production relies heavily on fossil fuels, this will result in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Graphene composites can also incorporate renewable biopolymers, further reducing the 232 million metric tons of annual emissions from plastic manufacturing.

Reducing Microplastics: Stronger, more durable graphene-plastic composites resist degradation and shedding, potentially lowering microplastic release during use or disposal. This could reduce the microplastic burden being faced by the entire ecological food chain, where over one in three fish contain plastics, as well human intake of microplastic coming from food-packaging.

Addressing Forever Chemicals (PFAS): Graphene-based coatings replace PFAS in plastics, providing water and oil resistance without toxicity. This eliminates leaching of PFAS, linked to cancers, immune dysfunction, and infertility, while maintaining or improving performance.

Additional Health Benefits: Graphene derivatives offer antimicrobial effects, disrupting bacterial membranes (e.g., 98.5% inhibition against S. aureus) and reducing pathogen risks in food. This could minimize need for chemical preservatives, addressing oxidative stress and organ damage from traditional plastics.

From Lab to Shelf – Finally Living Up to the Hype

Ten years ago, excitement around graphene’s potential to change the world ended largely in disappointment. Its incorporation into food-packaging to solve the plastic crisis was just one of the many promises that never came to fruition.

This was largely because only high-quality defect-free graphene provides all the mind-bending material properties that created all the excitement in the first place. The issue was that producing this high-quality graphene was energy intensive, expensive, and difficult to scale. These hurdles prevented graphene’s widespread adoption.

However, we are on the cusp of witnessing graphene finally live up to the 10-year-old hype. Hydrograph Clean Power Inc., using its patented detonation synthesis method, is now able to produce high-quality graphene cheaply, and with next to no energy input. The elegance of their production method allows for easy scaling, meaning however much graphene the world needs, they can produce.

Hydrograph’s research team has already investigated multiple different ways to incorporate their pristine graphene into the common plastics used in food-packaging, and all signs point towards stronger plastics with no forever chemicals.

The next step is being granted FDA approval for use of graphene-reinforced plastics to be in contact with food, and then the flood gates open. Tiny amounts (both in weight and cost) of graphene provide significant improvements in strength and reduced toxicity. Any food packaging manufacturer not incorporating graphene will be at a huge disadvantage to competitors. Worth noting CEO, Kjirstin Breure has recently stated that this approval process is typically 12 months and they nearing that time since making the application.

Not only will this be great for Hydrograph and its shareholders, but it will be good for all of humanity and the entire Earth’s ecosystem, both of which are currently being overwhelmed by the growing plastic crisis.