A hemp processor in Gilbert Plains is getting a more-than-$125,000 investment from the federal and provincial governments for new equipment to turn hemp straw into kitty litter, and it can potentially be used for other products as well.
Hemp Sense Inc. will be manufacturing a hemp cat litter that president and CEO Lyall Bates says is absorbent and environmentally friendly.
Bates says the product isn't organic but it's green. And he says cat litter is just one of the markets they will be going after.
"There's oil spills, there's mud-drilling, there's chemical spills, there's probably six or seven markets we can go after with just the crumble itself. So we're not relying on one market, we can rely (on) ten markets. And this is just the beginning, we feel that with a few pieces of equipment added here and there as we go there's no limit to how many products we can make."
Bates says the plan is to have the equipment up and operating by mid-summer and he's sure by this fall there will be a product on the shelves.
