RSS
Home
FTC consumer alert: bamboo fabric not eco-friendly
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
If you're one of the many conscientious shoppers or crafters who have been trying to live and work as green as possible, you may have been switching to bamboo fibers and fabrics for crafted goods and supplies. Bamboo is considered eco-friendly because it grows quickly and requires little or no pesticides. It's sturdy for things like flooring and furniture, and has quickly become a symbol of living harmoniously with your environment.
Unfortunately, the process of transforming bamboo into fibers, yarns, or fabrics is anything but environmentally friendly. The Federal Trade Commission just released a consumer alert to notify bamboo lovers that the process by which bamboo fibers, yarns, and fabrics are made is harmful to people and the environment, and leaves little bamboo left in the fabric at all.
According to the FTC, the soft-yet-durable fibers and fabrics we're actually buying aren't bamboo any more at all...they're rayon. The FTC also warns that even though bamboo is used to create the rayon, no traits of the original plant are left in the finished product. That means that the antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant are destroyed in processing, which is itself toxic to people and the environment.
While bamboo is still cheaper than silk, cashmere, and other natural “luxury” fibers, and doesn't typically cause allergic reactions like wool (which is antibacterial), and isn't rough like some cottons and linen, its impact on the people who process it and the environment mean that it is not an eco-friendly choice when it comes to fibers, yarns, and clothing.
Though the FTC only tells us that processing bamboo releases pollutants into the air, a little digging on the internet has brought other facts to light. Namely, that most bamboo fiber is chemically manufactured, which turns it into rayon. It is made using the same chemicals that make other rayon fibers, namely sodium hydroxide (lye) and carbon disulfate, both of which have been known to cause serious health complications in workers who process the fibers. According to this blog about organic clothing:
“Breathing low levels of carbon disulfide can cause tiredness, headache and nerve damage. Carbon disulfide has been shown to cause neural disorders in workers at rayon manufacturers. Low levels of exposure to sodium hydroxide can cause irritation of the skin and eyes. Sodium hydroxide is a strong alkaline base also known as caustic soda or lye. In its dry crystalline form, caustic soda is one of the major ingredients of Drano. This is basically the same process used to make rayon from wood or cotton waste byproducts.”
There is hope for bamboo fibers, yarns, and textiles. Bamboo is a very sustainable resource with a variety of uses. There are manufacturing processes that could be adapted to bamboo to make them more eco-friendly. If bamboo is mechanically processed with the use of natural enzymes, the way we do linen, it will be safer for the environment. The drawback here is that it is a labor intensive, costly method of processing. Bamboo linen does exist, but it isn't readily available.
For clothing, there is also a new company called GreenYarn that claims to use nano-particles to process bamboo charcoal into fibers. Their website claims that the fibers (which are made into clothing) are antibacterial, though the FTC warns that the companies that make these claims should have proof in the form of scientific test and analyses.
As for people who work with bamboo roving or yarn for spinning, embroidery, knit, crochet, or weaving their own textiles, there is no clear direction to go in if they want to keep using bamboo threads and yarns in their products. Hopefully the fact that this information is coming to light will open up the market for truly eco-friendly bamboo for their supplies.
People in the eco-friendly movement are well aware that the claims about the products they use or research are often anecdotal, or rely on studies done on other products. It can be hard to find research on the products you're using, as most of it is recycled from other sources that don't list their sources. Particularly on the internet, it is hard to know what is true and what is not. Certifications are helpful, but they don't always protect the consumer. The consumer is often unaware of what goes into the process of certification, and more importantly, what isn't required for certification.
The old adage “let the buyer beware” should encourage buyers to “be aware”, particularly for those of us who are trying to make eco-friendly choices to protect our families and our environment.
Related Articles:
Comments
