Is Bamboo Fabric Eco-Friendly?

My plan with this article was to go into all the ways bamboo could be used and how it seems to be a miracle product. It’s used in the construction industry, for solid wood items, toothbrushes, clothes, towels, socks and coffee cups. Bamboo shoots are also delicious in a stir fry! It’s a really environmentally friendly plant. But it’s maybe not as good as I first thought. We should all certainly avoid bamboo coffee cups for now, so is bamboo as good as I thought it was? Is bamboo fabric eco-friendly?

Quick Facts About Bamboo

• Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet. It can grow up to 91 cm (almost 3 feet) in one day.
• They absorb carbon dioxide and release over 30% more oxygen into the atmosphere compared to an equivalent mass of trees.
• Bamboo can reach full maturity in 1 to 5 years. Hardwood trees can take 30 to 40 years.
• It’s a renewable resource. After being harvested, it continues to grow new shoots from its root system.
• Bamboo will continue to grow new shoots from its root system meaning the roots remain in the soil helping to prevent soil erosion.
• Bamboo requires no chemicals, pesticides or fertiliser to grow.
• It’s strong and can be used in construction. The Tensile strength of steel is 24,000 PSI compared to bamboo which is 28,000 PSI.
• There are approximately 1000 – 1500 species of bamboos.
• The tallest recorded bamboo in the tropics was 40m.
• Every part of the bamboo plant can be used, so in effect it’s a zero waste product.
• Bamboo is anti-bacterial – it contains a natural bio-agent known as Bamboo Kun which is naturally anti-bacterial. It is so effective that it eliminates and prevents over 70% of bacteria that attempt to grow on it.
• It’s also deodorising. Bamboo charcoal is extremely porous and can absorb large quantities of odour causing bacteria, meaning chemical scents are no longer needed. The charcoal can also be used to filter harmful chemicals in water.
• Bamboo fibre is breathable and absorbent.
• The bamboo fibre cools people down when it’s hot and it keeps people warm when it’s cold.
• 110 species of bamboo have edible shoots. These edible bamboo shoots are an excellent source of potassium and fibre and they’re low in fat and calories.
• Bamboo can survive for more than 120 years in the wild.

Is Bamboo Fabric Eco-Friendly?

It’s hard not to think bamboo is a miracle product after reading that list of bamboo facts! But let’s get into the processes involved in converting a bamboo plant into the fabric products it often ends up being used for.

How is bamboo processed into fabric?

We’ve seen above that bamboo fibre is an amazing material and in theory it’s an exceptionally eco-friendly alternative to artificial fibres. It comes from a renewable resource which is fast-growing, it’s anti-bacterial, breathable and deodorising. While all of that is true the processes involved in making bamboo fibres are maybe not so eco-friendly. Essentially there are two ways to make the plant into a fabric: mechanically or chemically.

Mechanical

The mechanical way is to crush the woody parts of the bamboo plant and then use natural enzymes to break the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibres can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn. This is the same manufacturing process used to produce linen fabric from flax or hemp. Bamboo fabric made from this process is sometimes called bamboo linen.

Chemical

The most common way to process bamboo into fibres is with chemicals. It’s already sounding less eco-friendly! Most bamboo fabric is bamboo rayon, a man made fibre made from cellulose using the viscose process. The process of producing bamboo rayon is much like any other viscose rayon fabric. To summarise the process – first purifying and bleaching takes place before soaking in sodium hydroxide. It’s then treated with carbon disulphide and spun in a solution of sulphuric acid, sodium sulphate, zinc sulphate and glucose. (Note that lyocell bamboo rayon is more eco-friendly than viscose bamboo rayon.)

“lyocell rayon is produced in a closed-loop viscose process which utilizes a non-toxic solution (amine oxide) and minimizes water and energy consumption. The processing steps are similar to conventional viscose rayon: bamboo is pulped, softened, thickened, and formed into weavable fibre. The end product, however, is notably free of chemical residues, and has not been associated with worker illnesses or environmental damage. Additionally, virtually all of the amine oxide solution is recovered and reused.” – passion for fresh ideas

I can’t imagine that the chemically produced fibres retain their anti-bacterial properties, but I might be wrong. For viscose bamboo rayon it’s certainly not an eco-friendly process. If you see that an ‘eco-friendly bamboo’ towel, shirt or socks is made from bamboo linen then I say go for it. If however, it’s made from bamboo rayon then you might want to look into it a bit further. Unfortunately bamboo linen is hard to come by as it’s a more expensive process.

So, is bamboo fabric eco-friendly?

Bamboo linen could certainly be described as more eco-friendly than many other fibres. Just don’t be fooled by companies calling a product ‘bamboo bed linen’, as sometimes they’re actually made from bamboo rayon. Hopefully the labels are also clear enough to distinguish between lyocell bamboo rayon and viscose bamboo rayon. If viscose is mentioned anywhere in the product description or on the label then I say avoid it.

Many items claiming to be made from bamboo are actually a combination of bamboo and cotton or linen. Sometimes synthetic fibres are also used.

Check out the sustainability pages on Bamboo Clothing, where they go into detail about the processes involved in the manufacturing of their products. They certainly aren’t perfect, but then what company is? Overall I think they provide clothes which are much more eco-friendly than many other clothing companies. Check out some more eco-friendly clothes here.

Bamboo Rayon

• Made from Bamboo Cellulose
• Chemical Processes
• Not that eco-friendly

Bamboo Viscose

• Made from Bamboo Viscose
• Chemical Processes
• Not that eco-friendly

Bamboo Lyocell

• Made from Bamboo Pulp
• Fewer chemicals and water used
• Most eco-friendly

Is bamboo fabric, including viscose bamboo rayon, biodegradable?

Short answer… yes. It normally takes around a year or more to biodegrade.

Biodegradable Textiles

• Cotton: In compost, 100% cotton may biodegrade within as little as a week but usually takes about 5 months.
• Linen: Linen can decompose in as little as two weeks if it is all natural.
• Wool: Wool will decompose in about one year but can take as long as five depending on the blend.
• Bamboo: Bamboo takes one year and sometimes longer to biodegrade.
• Hemp: Hemp is supposedly ‘highly biodegradable’, but I can’t find anywhere that says how long it takes.
• Silk: Silk starts to biodegrade after about 4 years.
• Rayon: Rayon and lyocell fibres are biodegradable. Rayon, under the right conditions can biodegrade in 6 weeks.
• Other biodegradable fashion materials: Textiles such as jute, leaf fibres, and abaca fibre, as well as cork, seeds, shells, nuts, and wood are all compostable.

.- main edgexpo

If you throw your textiles into the landfill then they won’t biodegrade as quickly as it states above. Make sure you properly dispose of fabrics, no matter what they’re made from.

Bamboo Products to Avoid

• Clothing and materials made from Viscose Bamboo Rayon
• Bamboo Coffee Cups

Although bamboo is not really the miracle product I thought it was, it’s still very eco-friendly overall. Bamboo wood products are certainly ok to purchase (furniture, toothbrushes etc) and bamboo shoots are incredibly good for you, and tasty. At least one of the major advantages of viscose over synthetics is that it is biodegradable. Don’t give up on bamboo fibres just yet, just be aware of what kind of bamboo fibre you’re actually purchasing. And don’t forget that you should only be buying what you need, reducing waste and avoiding fast fashion should be a top priority.

References

• https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-growing-plant/
• http://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/bamboo_facts/563/
• http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/html/about-bamboo/bamboo-facts.html
• https://www.guaduabamboo.com/types/edible-bamboo-species
• https://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html
• https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/348/
• https://www.twosistersecotextiles.com/pages/what-is-viscose

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