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As with Chinese take out, Americans are having a love affair with imported Chinese bamboo. Bamboo has been called “the plant of one thousand uses.” It’s so versatile, it almost seems impossible. You can eat bamboo, distill wine from it, make fabric, furniture, floors, roofs, decks, and use it in landscaping that needs no pesticides and is easy to maintain.
With the explosion of green living and building options, bamboo seems to have become the product of choice for everything from eco-friendly flooring and fashionable furniture to bamboo fabric manufactured into designer underwear and baby clothes that are marketed as green and sustainable.
Indeed, the first time I saw bamboo floors, at a house in Southampton, a decade ago I was intrigued by the idea of its reported durability and the unique ambiance it seemed to create in the room. This was way back before the green movement went mainstream as it has today, and before bamboo exploded onto the market and announced itself as the next best thing to help save the planet.
The Dark Side
Well, not so fast. I’m sorry to rain on bamboo’s eco parade, but there is a dark side, and it’s something every consumer needs to know about when they go shopping for bamboo products to use in and around the home.
Bamboo fabric is especially of concern. Bamboo textiles are now mostly coming out of China. And guess what? There’s pretty much no oversight in the process of making bamboo fabric, which can involve nasty chemicals that can pollute the environment. Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia clothing company, was recently interviewed on www.TreeHugger.com, where he had this to say about bamboo: “Right now, there’s a lot of green glossing going on, green marketing. And a lot of companies are saying, ‘Oh yeah, we’re making sustainable clothing out of bamboo.’ Well, we [at Patagonia] don’t use any bamboo, because it uses really toxic chemicals in that process. Bamboo itself is grown without chemicals, but the process of converting it into cloth is very toxic.”
It is important to note here that I did read on the Environmental News Network Website (www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/32202) that some companies can now produce bamboo fiber via what’s called an advanced “closed loop” solvent spinning process, in which toxic solvents are carefully reused and not thrown into local water systems, minimizing impact on the environment. So as awareness of environmental issues become increasingly widespread, ideally this safer practice will become more of the industry standard.
Another downside is that some bamboo products, such as flooring, can contain formaldehyde and emit VOCs just like other kinds of flooring including wood that uses adhesives with chemicals in them. So you’ll want to make sure that whatever bamboo products you buy are not off-gassing at all or emitting VOCs beyond safe limits.
What’s more, with bamboo products coming mostly from abroad and unregulated, bamboo farms could
potentially be impacting forests and native landscapes, much as how growing palms for palm oil can destroy virgin rain forest or how growing sugar cane or other plants for use as bio fuels can change the native landscape in a negative way despite the potential upside.
The Bright Side
Now to the good news. There are many good things to be said about bamboo. With almost 1,500 varieties, bamboo can be grown in many kinds of climates. It grows super fast, does not use excessive amounts of water, and can be raised without pesticides. Bamboo also absorbs more carbon dioxide than most trees, including evergreens, which suck carbon out of the atmosphere and generate oxygen year-round. Bamboo is also now being studied for leeching poisonous chemicals out of brown fields on which they grow.
Don’t be bamboozled. There are more and more responsible companies looking at the whole process—from harvesting to manufacturing and delivery—so with a little research you can find a truly sustainable bamboo product.
Support Homegrown
A lot of the bamboo being used in this country comes from China. Not only is it difficult to discern the eco-friendly nature of how this product is made there, but there is also the issue of the enormous trade imbalance we have with China and the energy it takes to ship here from Asia. There are some who think that bamboo production should be fostered here in the US—for landscaping and farming to make products from. To support and find out more about the American bamboo industry, check out the following Websites:
Bamboo of the Americas, www.bamboooftheamericas.org
This nonprofit conservation action organization was established to ensure the sustained viability of native bamboo species throughout the Americas. Native bamboo plants and habitat are disappearing rapidly.
American Bamboo Society, www.bamboo.org
Formed in 1979, this group has more than 1,400 members living throughout the U.S. and in 37 other countries. ABS disseminates information about the use, care, propagation, and beauty of bamboo, and issues the magazine Bamboo and the Journal of the American Bamboo Society. Their Website has one of the best lists of where to find just about anything related to bamboo.
Bamboo for Landscaping
Bamboo is a lovely landscape plant, offering many benefits so long as you are aware of the downside.
- Bamboo is relatively disease and pesticide free.
- Although a grass, bamboo can look like a shrub or a bush and create a great barrier or privacy hedge. It also adds color to your yard year-round.
- Many bamboo plants use very little water.
- There’s bamboo that “runs” and bamboo that“clumps.” Make sure you know which one you are buying, as the runners spread aggressively underground. Clumping types spread much less aggressively; however, they typically don’t overwinter so they’re best grown in pots and brought indoors in the Northeast climate.
- If you choose to plant running varieties, the key to making sure that the bamboo does not spread and take over other parts of the yard is to bury barriers underground that stop the roots from spreading any further than you want them to.
Tips on buying bamboo floors
Choose durable hard types: Some bamboo varieties are harder than others, and can be as soft as pine or as hard as maple. So if you are looking for super durability in high-traffic areas, make sure you buy the right type
of bamboo.
Do your research: The bamboo industry has no labels or certifications yet to advise on quality or sustainability, so be sure to buy from a reputable company that has a good track record or, better yet, a warranty.
Choose VOC-free: Some bamboo floors use formaldehyde and urea in the adhesives and emit VOCs. Don’t assume that bamboo is VOC-free just because they call it a green flooring option.
Two reputable flooring sources:
Plyboo, www.plyboo.com
This company just announced a new urea- and formaldehyde-free line called PlybooPure.
Teragen, www.teragren.com
Reported to be harvested in managed forests in China. Their Synergy bamboo flooring is made with phenol-formaldehyde adhesive, a low-VOC-emitting material. They also sell products made with urea-based manufacturing adhesives, but lower-VOC adhesive can be used on a special-order basis.
Two green building suppliers:
Bettencourt Green Building Supplies
www.bettencourtwood.com
Dedicated to providing quality green building materials to designers, architects, contractors, and homeowners on the East Coast.
Green Depot, www.greendepot.com
Located in Brooklyn, with a new store slated to open later this year in Greenport. This supplier offers home-
owners and builders a wide array of environmentally friendly building supplies.
