I came across a great local business, Eden Cloth Diapering Company, today and have uncovered a wealth of information about Bamboo and why it may not actually be as sustainable and good for us and baby afterall. Read below to hear what Eden Cloth Diapering Company has to say about Bamboo and check out some of the links to read more on the topic.
From Eden Cloth Diapering Company:
Bamboo is often marketed as a ‘green’ material: fast growing, no pesticides, naturally antimicrobial. Unfortunately, we’ve been bamboozled.

There is a wealth of information on this topic available on the Internet. Here is my Reader’s Digest version:

•Although bamboo does grow quickly and can be grown sustainably and without pesticides, there is a lack of enforcement of sustainable agricultural practices in China (the primary source of bamboo). Many Chinese farmers (even those carrying the ‘organic’ label) are responding to the high demand for bamboo by using conventional (read: unsustainable) agricultural practices.
•There are two ways to process bamboo into fabric: mechanically (to make linen), and chemically (to make the velour you would find in bamboo cloth diapers). The mechanical method consists of physically pounding the hard bamboo plant until it becomes soft. The chemical process is long, involved, and toxic. The end product is not technically bamboo. Rather, it is a rayon product created from bamboo.
•In most cases, bamboo’s microbial properties are destroyed in the chemical process.
If you are interested in reading more on the subject, two informative sources are:

• http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2008/08/bamboo-sprouting-green-myths.html
•http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt172.shtm

If you’re in the market for cloth diapering products check out the packages available through Eden Cloth Diapering Company and use our EXCLUSIVE coupon code CHILDRENSDIRECTORY to take advantage of $20 off any cloth diapering package! (EXCLUDES STARTER PACKAGES) This code doesn’t expire so share it with your friends and shop often!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.