(Fabric, that is - I'll be looking at other products later.)
“This
shirt is made from a tree”...
...is
something I don't recall ever saying during those years, long ago,
when I was a retail menswear salesman. I would have lost the sale and
probably my job. So why do people keep saying “This garment is made
from bamboo”?
Back
then the textile I would have been referring to was rayon (aka
viscose and various other names). And the textile that is now
described as bamboo is - usually – rayon (aka viscose and various
other names). It's been around for 100 years and more. It's an
artificial fibre made from cellulose and the cellulose is got from
woody sources like trees and bamboo.
I'm
checking out bamboo because in my attempts to shop more sustainably I
find it being used to support claims of environmental friendliness.
Bamboo
growing requires no fertilisers and much less water than cotton; it
grows almost anywhere and leaves the soil virtually unharmed. So by
the time it arrives in the factory bamboo can be far ahead of rivals
like polyester and conventionally grown cotton in terms of
sustainability. So far so good.
But
unless you're going to make underwear by nailing bamboo sticks
together it needs to go through a lot of changes before it becomes
that nice soft material we're familiar with. And there's the rub.
That process can involve the use of noxious chemicals which do great
harm to the environment and to the people working with them. However
there are a few responsible and innovative producers out there who
are working to realise the good potential of bamboo.
So
I tried to separate them out from the rest. It wasn't easy. It's a
subject filled with technicalities and misdirection. Here's what I
found out.
1/The
Source
The
only point in the process at which being bamboo makes a difference is
at this stage. It needs none of the pesticides, fertilisers and vast
water consumption of 'the world's dirtiest crop', cotton; it is not a fossil fuel product such as polyester.
And it grows more or less anywhere without damaging the soil. So a
manufacturer using bamboo is off to an excellent start. But we still
need to know that it is being grown without displacing vital natural
resources (e.g. rainforest) or essential crops such as food.
2/
Processing
On
entering the processing works it's the way the woody plant is treated
that is important. If noxious chemicals (commonly carbon disulphide)
are discharged into a river after being used to extract the
cellulose, being bamboo won't improve matters. A responsible
manufacturer will recover the chemicals and keep reusing them so
that they never get out out into the wider world. I need to be
assured that a product is made in this way, which is known as a closed
loop process - a term I should look for on the labelling.
3/
Cellulose
From
now on it's just cellulose. And cellulose is cellulose regardless of
the kind of tree or plant it came from. It is no longer that tree or
plant. Nor is it at this point any longer a fibre and so cannot have any of
the attributes of a fibre, bamboo or otherwise. (This is important,
see below, Endnote 5, 'Here's
what the the FTC says about bamboo'.)
4/
Fibre/fabric/end product
That
cellulose gloop is squeezed through tiny holes to create a new kind
of fibre. Now it's the added stuff that counts. Such things as
dressings, dyes and fire retardants can contain polluting, lingering,
chemicals. Non-toxic alternatives do exist and I need to know they
have been used.
5/
End of Life Disposal
Rayon
is not recyclable. But it is biodegradable, a big point in its
favour, though it needs help. It won't happen on your garden compost
heap. It needs 'hot composting' – simple enough to set up if you are an enthusiast, but it really needs to be done at
municipality level if it is to be done at scale. In landfill it takes
a very long time to biodegrade, and releases methane in so doing
(though responsible landfill operators should control this). It is at
this stage that the added treatments in point 4 are significant.
These should be biodegradable and non-toxic so that they are not left
behind as pollutants as the material biodegrades.
At
all these stages I need to be
reassured about the conditions affecting farmers and workers. Are
they paid properly? Are their working conditions safe? No child
labour. No enforced labour or slavery – etc.
So
here goes – decisions
Bamboo
- Certified as ethically and sustainably sourced and processed with
no toxic end of life residues? OK, I'll go for it. But I have been
able to find only two such.
The
first is so good that this would be a very short blog post if it were
easily available. It is mechanically processed bamboo, where no nasty
chemicals are used and no environmental or workplace hazards are
involved. Here's what Sewport
says about it:
'Bamboo
fabric of the highest quality is made with production practices that
do not extract cellulose. Instead, a natural enzyme is used on
crushed bamboo wood fibers, and these fibers are then washed and spun
into yarn. This yarn usually has a silky texture, and the fabric made
by this
process is sometimes called bamboo linen.
When
bamboo fabric is made with this method, it is not environmentally
harmful, and the resulting textile is strong and long-lasting.'
See this manufacturer:
https://paragonbamboo.com/where-does-our-bamboo-come-from/
The
second, which is not mechanically processed, is Monocel.
This uses the
Lyocell
closed loop system to process ethically grown bamboo sustainably.
See: https://www.launch.org/innovators/jonny-kristiansen/
One
to be wary of is viscose, the
old production method, still very widely used today. This is the one
that, in the hands of unscrupulous manufacturers, causes serious
pollution and danger to workers. Some manufacturers do handle it
responsibly but I would need clear assurances about this before
considering it. And I have to say that whilst there are plenty of
assurances out there, most of them are far from clear.
If I'm told only
that a product is bamboo, without being given any further
information, I have to assume they're bullshitting me, probably
using viscose, probably not closed loop. Or else why would they keep
quiet about it? So, obviously, I have no intention of buying
their stuff. I would sooner look instead for sustainably manufactured
rayon from other sources, so long as they are sustainably grown.
Lenzing
Modal, for instance, is a brand which is sourced from sustainably
grown beech wood and which meets stringent criteria of sustainability
in its processing. Other Modals are available but beware – there
are dodgy ones out there. See Sustainable Jungle.
And:
https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/modal-fabric
Tencel
is another Lenzing brand
using sustainably sourced wood. The ethical outdoor pursuits
brand Patagonia
uses Tencel
in its products, see here .
Tencel
spell out their sustainability claim here.
There's a good
article here about Tencel, listing brands that use it:
https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-tencel/
And
here: Good Housekeeping
This
retailer is properly serious about sustainability and workers rights:
https://www.baukjen.com/blogs/journal/our-purpose
They
are stockists of Lenzing and much else. I predict I'll be saying much
more about them in future posts.
There is a good article here, which
covers the exploitation of workers as well as the environmental
concerns, and, importantly, it outs some of the offending brands:
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/fashion-clothing/campaign-clean-viscose
.
Anything Else?
Yes -
There's a lot of word play out there
and I need to make sure I see through it. For example, I came across
a knitting yarn called Tencel Bamboo Fine. Looks good? Tencel
made from bamboo? Well no. It's Tencel, which we have already
seen is not made from bamboo, and Bamboo. In a 40/60
combination. So 40% sustainable product and 60% rayon of unknown
provenance. The sales description I read goes into detail about the credentials of the
40% Tencel and remains silent as to the other. In the absence
of further information I will assume therefore that it's 60% nasty
old-school viscose (so the bamboo is actually the unsustainable
part of this product) and avoid it. (But
see below, Endnote 3,
'Mixes as a way of getting a toehold.')
The word, 'organic' occurs often yet
rayon cannot fulfil the criteria for that classification as, although
the original bamboo may be organic, it ceases to exist in the
cellulose. (With one possible borderline exception, see note 4, 'Can
bamboo rayon ever be organic?')
And how about this one: 'Our bamboo is
processed into a fibre using organic chemicals...' I can only imagine
this manufacturer is using the word here in its scientific sense
which is not at all the same as when we apply it to a cabbage or
cotton. If I remember my high school chemistry right, organic is the
term used to describe carbon based chemicals. Hmm... I wonder - carbon
disulphide? (More on this below, Endnote 2, 'Word
Play'.)
I'm
a customer, not a scientist, and I want to be told what I am buying.
I should not have to wade through industry, technical and specialist
sources to find this out because vendors wrap their products around
with deliberately ambiguous, misleading language. Just as bad as
obviously flagrant environmental vandalism is greenwash, causing
consumers to damage the environment while under the impression they
are doing something to protect it.
In
conclusion I have to say that I've reached a point where the word
'bamboo' applied to a product doesn't reassure me - it annoys me. It
is most often just a 'hooray word' used to spread an unjustified aura
of greenness.
Bamboo
is a great crop with potentially a great future. Its use means we're
not digging up ancient carbon and putting it back into the
atmosphere. It saves us from needing all those herbicides and
pesticides. It doesn't waste vast quantities
of water. It's an economically viable crop which can be grown almost
anywhere. So I will do my tiny bit to help bring on that great future
by supporting those manufacturers who are mechanically processing
bamboo and those who are using sustainable non-mechanical processes.
As there are few of these – and
if I really must have rayon
- I will also support those who are responsibly making cellulose
products from responsibly grown wood of whatever kind. If they go on
at some point in the future to use bamboo as a source wood then so
much the better. In that future, which I hope is not far away, I hope
I will see more manufacturers cleaning up their bamboo act. And my
local authority will be collecting their products when I've finished
with them along with my other composting waste.
***
Endnotes:
Sources,
links, some additional or expanded thoughts and the odd rant.
1/
Alternatives to rayon
should definitely be considered, such as organic cotton, recycled cotton and
hemp. These are more sustainable than even the best rayon according
to Ethical Consumer.
2/
Word play – it's a real pity
that we have to beat our way through such a thicket of this sort of
thing in order to simply know what we are buying. A pity, but not
unexpected, as I pointed out in my introductory post . For
instance here's a fuller version of a quote I use in the post above:
'The
bamboo we sell at Simplifi
Fabric is bamboo
viscose manufacturer
[sic] with the closed loop process.
Our
bamboo is processed into a fibre using organic chemicals that are
covered under the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification and are 100%
recyclable. The process
utilises a 'closed-loop' system where all chemicals used are recycled
and used again, and again.
Our
bamboo textiles are certified under one or more of the following
certifications:
There are certainly some encouraging
words there – organic, recyclable, closed
loop. Let's look: '...processed
into a fibre using organic chemicals'.
As already pointed out, this seems to be the technical usage of the
word, not at all the same as what we mean when we apply it to, say,
cotton.
'...100%
recyclable...' True, if used in a closed loop system, which the
blurb goes on to tell us is the case – so that's a positive.'….covered
under the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification.'
Well, as far as I can discover, Oeko-Tex
Standard 100 is about
end-user safety. The product is tested after manufacture for the
presence of things that may harm the user. It is not its job to look
at what happens on the way. So long as any nasties have been washed
away by the time the product pops off the production line, it'll get
a certificate. Here's what the Oeko-Tex website says:
'If
a textile article carries the STANDARD 100 label, you can be certain
that every component of this article, i.e. every thread, button and
other accessories, [sic] has been tested for harmful substances and
that the article therefore is harmless for human health. '
https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/our-standards/standard-100-by-oeko-tex
However
the
HelloNatural Living
website disagrees with my point: '...the
Oeko-Tex certification is your guarantee that your new clothes have
been processed without harmful chemicals.' But I fail to see how they
arrive at that conclusion because they say little more in the lead up
to that statement than I have quoted above. That there are no nasties
on the thing now doesn't mean there never have been. In fact it's
viscose so we know
there have been.
It's
not that I want to disparage the Oeko-Tex standard, it's just that I
don't want to see it misused. I want to pin down just what use it is
to me as a customer when I see it tagged to a product. It shouldn't
be this difficult. The precautionary principle tells me that it is of
little use if I want to establish the environmental credentials of a
product. See
https://tuttifrutticlothing.com/blogs/news/why-organic-not-oeko-tex
for
some good sense.
And
then there's 'Our
bamboo textiles are certified under one or more of the following
certifications'. Hmm...
'one or more'. Well, in this case just the one as far as I can see.
What are the others there for? That green aura again? (See Endnotes 4
and 5 for more on this.)
And
– I'm sorry Simplifi, I know you're not the only one – here's a
fine example from their FAQ's of answering one question with the
answer to a different, unasked, one:
Question:
Is the process used to manufacture bamboo textiles harmful to the
environment?
Answer:
'Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth with a growth
rate of over 12 inches per day.
Bamboo is tremendously strong and pest resistant. No fertilizers, pesticides or irrigation is required.Bamboo does not require replanting. The shoots are cut to their base and the bamboo re-grows from new shoots.'
And so a question about processing the bamboo was given an answer about growing the bamboo. (The exasperated interlocutor there is of course WhysWhys)
As
far as I am concerned, no-one in this murky scene gets the benefit of
the doubt. I won't go near any product other than the very few I
indicate in the main text.
3/
Mixes as a way of getting a toehold - Though
my comment regarding Tencel Bamboo Fine was harsh, I do accept that
there may be a place for such mixtures, clearly described.
Sustainably produced materials have to push their way into the market
yet have a price disadvantage. If this kind of blending can help them
grow their business then maybe at some point soon economies of scale
can kick in and they can gain a much more prominent position in the
market. I hope. Maybe that's what the OCS
100 Blend standard is
about. The OCS website tells us -
'The
Organic Content Standard (OCS) applies to any non-food product
containing 5-100 percent organic material. It verifies the presence
and amount of organic material in a final product.'
See:
https://certifications.controlunion.com/en/certification-programs/certification-programs/ocs-blended-organic-content-standard
4/
Can bamboo rayon ever be organic?
See
Organic 100: https://certifications.controlunion.com/en/certification-programs/certification-programs/ocs-100-organic-content-standard
If
I understand right, we shouldn't expect this one to be awarded to
bamboo rayon because the bamboo ceases to exist once the cellulose is
created. Whereas it could be awarded to an organic cotton
product because the fibres that came off the organically grown plant
have been followed through and confirmed to remain in the end
product.
This
website, despite its name, seems to agree with that, while giving an
explanation about how some Lenzing products come very close:
https://yesitsorganic.com/rayon-modal-tencel-environmental-friends-or-foes.html
5/
Here's what the the US Federal Trade
Commission says about bamboo:
'If
you make, advertise or sell bamboo-based textiles, the Federal Trade
Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to
know that unless a product is made directly with bamboo fiber —
often called
“mechanically processed bamboo” — it can’t be called bamboo.
Indeed, to advertise or label a product as “bamboo,” you need
competent and reliable evidence, such as scientific tests and
analyses, to show that it’s made of actual bamboo fiber. Relying on
other people’s claims isn’t substantiation. The same standard
applies to other claims, like a claim that rayon fibers retain
natural antimicrobial properties from the bamboo plant.'
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/how-avoid-bamboozling-your-customers
6/
Here's a good general article:
https://shopvirtueandvice.com/blogs/news/do-sustainable-fashionistas-buy-rayon-the-answer-may-surprise-you
7/ Quick Reference Essential Points:
- Mechanically processed bamboo fibre is great - nice if I can find it and afford it.
- Mostly though it's rayon made from cellulose derived from bamboo.
- Production is often very polluting. Look for closed loop, meaning chemicals are recycled; look for Monocell-Lyocell sustainable bamboo rayon; otherwise sustainable non-bamboo rayons e.g. Lenzing Modal and Tencel.
- If the only thing they tell me is that it's bamboo I assume it's greenwash - look out for misdirection and ambiguity.
- Rayon cannot be organic.
- Be careful to understand exactly what a certification label is telling me.
- Consider more sustainable alternatives such as recycled cotton or hemp.
I am not yet done with bamboo though. It is increasingly used for 'paper' and packaging products and much else. I'm looking at these and hope to post about some of them soon.
Next up: something quick and easy, I think, after that - about kitchen rolls and wiping and stuff.
