Hey team, and welcome back to one5c! A couple months back an analysis revealed a truth I’d always suspected but had never confirmed: That tushy tissue made from bamboo is often, well, not totally made from bamboo. 💩. At that point, the grass had been on my mind for a while, neatly nestled in the “maybe too good to be true” folder in my gray matter. Fast-growing, carbon-sequestering, world-spanning, versatile. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, don’t get us started…
Products made from panda food exist on their own exquisite spectrum of greenwashy nonsense. Contributor Leslie Horn Peterson lays it all out. —Corinne
BAMBOO ISN’T AS SUSTAINABLE AS YOU’D THINK
By Leslie Horn Peterson
Pandas might not be known for their ability to procreate. Their food of choice, meanwhile, does so at an unbelievable rate. Bamboo is so plentiful that it’s been touted as a sustainable solution for making anything from plates and straws and clothes to literal buildings. It’s been cultivated for thousands of years, but these days, it’s surging. The global market was worth $59 billion in 2022, and it’s expected to grow to $88 billion by 2030.
Despite how companies market bamboo, experts warn that the zeal for the material is not really about finding a more sustainable replacement for plastic or wood or synthetic fibers. “It’s a classic attempt to find a new market and grow a new market,” says Kate Fletcher, a professor and author whose work focuses on sustainability in fashion and design. The challenge “isn’t material choices. It’s just entirely about scale, about growth, and reducing it.”
Do any uses for bamboo stand up to scrutiny, or is it just another greenwashy buzzword? The answer depends on what material the panda’s favorite plant is replacing—and how. Let’s break it down.
Potentially greenwashy: As a replacement for household products made from wood
In a head-to-head comparison with plain old wood, bamboo’s stats crush. Bamboo is super renewable; it can reach maturity in three years and requires little water, while trees can take decades. It can also grow pretty much anywhere, boasting close to 1,700 species native to five out of seven continents. Bamboo also has a high capacity for carbon sequestration. A 2023 study, for example, found that one species in China could sequester double the amount of local firs and four times the amount of pines.
All that means products in which bamboo is close to its original form—like furniture and cutting boards—can truly be sound alternatives. Same goes for using it for timber or other building materials like flooring, says Jonas Hauptman, co-lead of Virginia Tech’s Bio-Design Research Group. All that comes with an important caveat, though: Some bamboo farmers, for example, cut down existing forests to cultivate the crop, negating any earth-friendly benefits. The designation “FSC certified bamboo” will tell you when the material in a given product was farmed responsibly.
Definitely greenwashy: As a replacement for textiles
“Bamboo fabric” is an umbrella term that could mean a lot of different things. The booming use of bamboo in fashion is such a thorny issue that the Federal Trade Commission established guidelines for how companies label such textiles—and famously fined Walmart and Kohl’s $5.5 million for misrepresenting the eco-ness of their wares.
Fabrics made from panda food fall into one of two categories. First there’s “mechanically processed bamboo” or “bamboo linen,” which is made by crushing bamboo fibers, applying natural enzymes, and spinning the resulting material into yarn. Then there are chemically processed textiles, which rely on a solvent to break bamboo into cellulose, which is then further processed before ultimately becoming yarn. Common fabrics like viscose bamboo and lyocell bamboo are made this way and represent the bulk of bamboo textiles. “When a fiber is described as bamboo, in the vast majority of cases, that’s just a reference to the cellulose that goes into this fiber production process,” says Fletcher.
Despite FTC requirements that the words “viscose” (which is essentially rayon) and “lyocell” appear in front of “bamboo” on labels, companies know that the word “bamboo” subliminally suggests that a product is eco-friendly. Don’t assume that means a product is green. Carbon disulfide, which is used in the production of viscose, pollutes waterways, and both types of chemically produced bamboo fabric require tons of water. As for less-gnarly bamboo linen: the Council of Fashion Designers of America says it represents only a small fraction of the bamboo fabric for sale.
Also definitely greenwashy: As a replacement for single-use plastics
So you’re having a picnic, and in an effort to not pile on more plastic pollution to the world’s vast sea of detritus, you opt for a pack of bamboo forks. First thing’s first here: A single-use product is a single-use product, whether it’s made of bamboo or not. The package may proclaim the utensils as “compostable” or “recyclable,” but they won’t break down in your own backyard heap alongside your banana peels; they need to go to an industrial facility.
That’s because to become a perfectly shaped spork or cake plate, bamboo has to be processed into fiber or pulp, which then gets glued together—sometimes even with wood. (Spoiler alert: This is also true for bamboo toilet paper.) Many products also use bamboo that’s combined with plastic. Ever heard of BPC cups? Yep, that stands for “bamboo plastic composite,” and that can pollute waterways the same way materials we perceive to be worse do.
Leslie Horn Peterson is a New York–based journalist covering a broad range of topics—from music and culture to home and families. She’s contributed to Gizmodo, Vice, Deadspin, and Dwell, among other pubs.
The Roundup
In the news this week
Here’s a fact we hope lands in tonight’s presidential debate: The Biden administration’s investment in cleantech manufacturing has totaled more than $200 billion and will create some 195,000 jobs, according to an analysis from Bloomberg Opinion and EnerWrap, a firm that crunches numbers on U.S. energy systems. Who will reap most of those benefits? Disproportionately right-leaning districts.
Denmark will soon charge farmers for the gases their livestock pass. The tax, which is the first of its kind, targets the world’s largest source of methane emissions. When it goes into effect in 2030, it will charge farmers $43 per ton of emissions (about 10 cows’ worth) and go up to $108 in 2035.
Miyoko’s Creamery—makers of our favorite plant-based butter—announced a pair of new oat milk–based flavors: garlic parmesan and cinnamon brown sugar. The six-ounce tubs retail for $4.99 each and are available at Whole Foods. The cheesy tang of the parm flavor comes courtesy of another of our go-to ingredients: nutritional yeast.
Americans are flocking to vacation destinations with more bearable temperatures this summer, according to data from Booking.com. About one-third of folks looking to travel over the July Fourth holiday weekend are eyeing coastal areas and “water-centric” locales and activities. About 64 million people are currently under heat alerts nationwide.
Fervo Energy, a startup that borrows techniques from oil and gas drilling to harness geothermal energy from below the surface, signed what it says is the largest geothermal power supply deal ever. The agreement, with Southern California Edison, will supply 320 megawatts of energy—enough to run 350,000 homes.