I buy and use bamboo products more and more over the last years as opposed to plastic products. The look and feel of bamboo is certainly better than plastic, but there must be more positive aspects of bamboo than aesthetics.
So why should we use bamboo instead of plastic? Bamboo is a highly renewable natural material that has antibacterial and antifungal properties and is biodegradable as opposed to plastic. Actually, plastic can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade and is a major cause of pollution worldwide.
Bamboo has become today’s “green gold” because it has so many positive characteristics over harmful materials such as plastic. In our era where most of our homes are over-equipped with plastic products with strong negative effects, it is time to pay more attention to the green alternative which is a precious gift of nature; the bamboo.
Bamboo versus plastic
Our planet has become, over the years, a dumping ground for waste with disastrous effects on our environment and future generations. With the “use and throw away” culture expending everywhere over the world, leading to record levels of pollution, the material often pointed out is the plastic.
Indeed, plastic has changed our daily lives. Being one of the cheapest materials to produce and thanks to its ability to take many physical forms, it is considered one of the preferred materials for industrialists. Think about every cell phone you’ve owned, every toothbrush, your desk accessories, and even the kitchen utensils you use every day.
Plastic has been a staple in the growth of our culture, our society and our economic wealth, but its harmful effects are much more than we think, here are a few:
- 50% of plastic is never reused or recycled.
- It takes up to 1000 years for plastic to biodegrade.
- More than 1 million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide.
- Creating plastic requires fossil fuels (petroleum), which increases our planet’s carbon emissions.
- More than 8 billion kilograms of plastic end up in the ocean each year.
Over time, these problems only get worse, hence the need to seriously address the issue and aim to replace the plastic with a more environmentally friendly and sustainable solution. This is where bamboo comes in the picture.
In recent years, bamboo has been called the “green gold” of modern times. This super-powerful plant is actually a grass family plant and has therefore similar characteristics in terms of how fast it can grow and where it can live. There are so many reasons to move away from plastic and go entirely to bamboo. For example:
- Bamboo can grow without fertilizers or pesticides.
- Bamboo is naturally antibacterial and antifungal.
- Bamboo can regrow to adult size to be harvested in 3-5 years.
- Bamboo can grow in many types of environments (China, Africa, South America, USA).
- Bamboo is biodegradable.
- Bamboo produces 35% more oxygen compared to similar plants.
- Bamboo naturally helps rebuild eroded soil.
- Bamboo almost never needs to be replanted.
- Bamboo is an extremely durable material.
- Bamboo requires much less water than similar plants, therefore requiring no irrigation system.
As you can see, promoting the use of bamboo objects instead of plastic is extremely beneficial for our environment and our future generations.
Not only does the use of this magical plant benefit our planet in the long term, but it can be very useful in our daily life while being in harmony with our home space.
The natural look and feel of bamboo objects, actually, gives a warm and cozy sensation to the surroundings. Furthermore, due to the fact that bamboo wood is a natural and robust material, any bamboo item will last a very long time and have no negative effects on health, think about kitchen items as an example.
Kitchen utensils, wellness and relaxation items, desk accessories, lights and decorations, are few applications where bamboo wood took already place, there are many more applications of the bamboo, some were invented by our ancestor hundreds of years ago.
Popular bamboo products that replace plastic
Now you might be wondering, “What products can I buy which are made from bamboo?” »If you see around you, you will certainly notice that there are a lot of plastic products that you can replace with bamboo ones. Click here for some suggestions of our products
