Bamboo fabric is widely recognized as an eco-friendly fiber, however most consumers are unaware that is generally made through a highly toxic chemical process. While bamboo is a wonderful sustainable plant that requires virtually no chemicals to grow, the process to break down this highly fibrous plant into that luxurious soft fabric requires a lot of chemicals. There are actually two methods for producing bamboo fiber. The first is usually described as mechanical and the second as chemical. Unfortunately, very little of the mechanical fiber is in circulation and is not widely used so most bamboo fabric uses a chemical solvent to turn its cellulosic fibers into fabric. This process is similar to rayon production and is, in fact, considered a category of rayon. Many argue that bamboo fabric should not be considered a green fiber because the solvents used in this process leave toxic residues in our air and water. Some companies, produce bamboo fiber via what’s called an advanced “closed loop” solvent spinning process, which has minimal impact on the environment and an economical use of energy and water. The solvent is continually recycled during the production process. So, production plant emissions into the air from smokestacks and from waste water are significantly lower in comparison to many other man-made fiber operations. The solvent to digest the bamboo pulp can be toxic, but utilizing the closed loop process, this solvent is carefully reused and not thrown into local water systems.
So where does this leave us? Unfortunately, the truth is that 99% of all products we consume, even many of the eco-friendly ones…have some negative environmental impact. Given this, it often comes down to choosing between the lesser of two evils when purchasing products in order to move toward sustainability. We all know how great bamboo is to grow, but do we all know how bad cotton is to grow? As I discussed in one of my previous blog posts conventionally grown cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and seven out of ten of these are among the most toxic chemicals on earth. It takes 1/3 of a pound of chemical fertilizers to produce just one pound of cotton (essentially one t-shirt). In comparison, bamboo requires no fertilizer, pesticides or chemicals to grow. It is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet. In addition, it has no harmful residues left on it compared with the non-sustainable, chemically damaging cultivation that cotton requires. When measuring carbon dioxide, bamboo consumes 45% more carbon then a similar stand of trees. It is for these reasons many consider bamboo to be an environmentally viable alternative to cotton. So bamboo fabric can still be considered an eco fiber on some levels, I feel that when given a choice, organically grown cotton is still a better option.
