Or are they?
A lot of statements have been made in this field over the years but when you break it down and look behind the hype and advertising how friendly are these so called eco friendly fibres?
Over the next few weeks I will be looking at various different so called eco friendly fibres.
Lets start with the old favorite, Bamboo.
Soft as silk, fast-growing, needs little water, pesticides or fertilisers, Bamboo textiles have lots of potential as a eco-friendly textile. Bamboo clothing is claimed to be breathable, naturally anti-bacterial and hypoallergenic. It’s one of earth’s most sustainable resources. However as with every cash crop, producers are looking at ways to maximise output and reduce waste. This means using water, pesticides and fertilisers. It means cutting down natural forest to enable more hectares to be planted.
The cellulose, used to make the fibre, is extracted from the bamboo and then mixed with a cocktail of carbon disulphide, sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid to convert the plant pulp into textile quality fibre. This process can be very polluting and harmful to people working with it unless it is carefully controlled in a closed loop system.
There are organic options but because of the the total lack of transparency in the bamboo fibre industry most large companies who are looking for the eco-friendly answer are staying away from bamboo products and sticking with Tencel that is also made from cellulose but with non-toxic chemicals in a closed loop system from certified eucalyptus tree farms.
All this said people are working very hard to sort the above problems so one day we will be able to buy a shirt made from this great fibre with the confidence that we are doing our bit for the environment...
Next time we'll look at recycled polyester fibres...
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