How Green is Bamboo?

My determination towards finding a sustainable alternative vs cotton thread lead me to three options... Human hair, Cotton Twine and 70%Bamboo 30% Cotton Wool. After researching the sustainability of human hair in comparison to Cotton thread, i was faced with a moral dilemma. Human hair proved to be the more sustainable option, however its positive impact on the environment lead me to believe that using it for thread to construct a garment would not provide it with a greater value then its use as a clean up technology for oil spills around the world. So, therefore i was instantly down to just two options. I decided to sample the alternatives and I tested the strength of the twine and wool, the ease to thread and hand sew the products and the overall effect that was being added to the fragile doilies. In comparing both the cotton twine and the bamboo/cotton wool, the alternatives proved similar to cotton thread in strength, however when hand sewing I found the twine difficult to use. Due to its texture and thickness, the twine was stressing the delicate doilies often damaging and changing their shape, where as the bamboo/cotton wool was no different to cotton thread easily threaded, hand sewn and disappeared into the detail of the various doilies. After sampling the alternatives i made the decision to use 70%Bamboo 30% Cotton wool to hand sew my garment. BUT...

Is 70% Bamboo 30% Cotton wool the sustainable option?

HUMAN HAIR

COTTON TWINE

70% BAMBOO 30% COTTON WOOL

SAMPLE: HUMAN HAIR

SAMPLE: COTTON TWINE

SAMPLE: BAMBOO COTTON WOOL

BAMBOO

Does bamboo have the poetical to be a more sustainable and eco- friendly alternative vs cotton?

Botanically categorised as a grass and not a tree, bamboo is used for a wide variety of commercial uses, including food, construction, decoration and clothing. Bamboo has earned a reputation as a environmentally friendly and renewable resource due to it's natural and rapid growth, without the use of any pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers. As a result of its rapid growth it can be harvested within 4 years, and as it embodies a vast root network, bamboo does not require replanting after harvesting as it continually sprouts new shoots. Growing bamboo improves soil quality and helps rebuild eroded soil, its vast root network, as mentioned previously, also holds soil together and retains water. Furthermore, Bamboo plantations are large factories for photosynthesis which reduces greenhouse gases.

"Bamboo plants absorb about 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide (a primary greenhouse gas) and produces about 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees" (Michael 2007).

However, most importantly, Bamboo clothing (both mechanically and chemically manufactured) has proven to be 100% biodegradable and can decompose completely without emitting pollutants such as methane gas into the atmosphere and waterways, UNLIKE COTTON.

When researching the manufacturing process where Bamboo the plant is transformed into Bamboo the fabric, the Sustainability and Ec0- friendly lustre surrounding the grass became slightly tarnished. "It's hard to imagine that the entire bamboo plant- including both its leaves and tall, woody stalks, can be transformed into soft, silky fabric." (Ginsburg 2008)

Mechanically and Chemically are the two manufacturing processes that produce Bamboo fabric. By crushing woody parts of the bamboo plant, then using natural enzymes to break the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibres are combed and mechanically spun into yarn. Due to its similarities in manufacturing bamboo made mechanically is often referred to as Bamboo Linen. Mechanically processing is more labor intensive and costly, therefore very little bamboo linen is manufactured. Chemically manufactured Bamboo is produced by 'cooking' the entire plant in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide.

"Both Sodium Hydroxide and Carbon Disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Breathing low levels of Carbon Disulfide can cause tiredness, headaches and nerve damage. Low levels of exposure to Sodium Hydroxide can cause irritation of the skin and eyes" (Michael 2007). Bamboo, like cotton with its pesticides, uses toxic chemicals, in the processing of the fibres, that have proven to be a health risk to humans. In countries with economic issues, neither employers or employees are financially able to fund protective equipment and are at a higher risk to these symptoms and/or fatalities. However when researching i became aware of newer manufacturing facilities, that have begun using other technologies to chemically manufacture bamboo. The process used to produce Lyocell from wood cellulose can now be modified to use Bamboo cellulose.

" The Lyocell processing is substantially healthier and more eco- friendly because N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide is supposedly non-toxic to humans and the chemical manufacturing processes are closed-loop so 99.5% of the chemicals used during the processing are captured and recycled to be used again, only trace amounts escape into the atmosphere or into waste waters." (Michael 2007) This just might be the sustainable solution that will ensure that there is truth behind Bamboo's Sustainable and Eco- friendly reputation.

Bamboo is a more sustainable alternative vs Cotton Thread.

Although the manufacturing process of Bamboo tarnished the lustre surrounding the sustainable reputation it upheld, i still believe that in comparison to Cotton, Bamboo is the more sustainable alternative. No one has the answers to produce a 100% Sustainable object, there are objects with sustainable qualities, and some qualities are more sustainable then others. Therefore, with masses of Cotton clothing being dumped into landfill yearly, emitting pollutants into our atmosphere and waterways while it SLOWLY decomposes, Bamboo's ability to decompose 100% in soil with the use of micro-organisms and sunlight, without emitting any pollutants is a favourable, sustainable quality to possess. Quite Simply Cottons Con's on the environment list is much less favourable in comparison to Bamboo's Pro's on the environment list.

After much research, i have made an informed decision to use 70% Bamboo 30% Cotton wool

as the more sustainable alternative vs Cotton Thread!