Bamboo Bed Linens? Only If They're Organic (to start with)

by Marc A. Reynolds - East Coast Green

Hopefully, you read the post prior to this one.  It's about organic cotton versus conventional cotton.  There is a major difference and organic is the better bet for you and for the planet.  Well...the same holds true for bamboo clothing and linens.  We've all heard about bamboo being a green choice because it regenerates very quickly, but there are additional factors you need to consider. 

Although under ideal conditions (soil & climate) bamboo can grow at a rate as fast as 2" per hour it's not perfect.  Unfortunately, nearly all bamboo used in the US now is shipped over from China (where, by the way, the industry sustains 6 million people's livelihoods).  If you are concerned about your bamboo linens and their carbon footprint that's an obvious consideration.  Also, most bamboo is not yet in a position to be seen as a truly green alternative: growers use pesticides, clear cut rainforests to plant it (thus voiding its tree-saving advantages), and there's no fair trade system in place to ensure bamboo growers are adequately compensated.  You would need to make sure the bamboo was harvest from an FSC-Certified grower.

The process for producing regenerated bamboo into fiber is also something you should be concerned with.  Two well known processes exist for producing regenerated bamboo fiber, both of which were developed in China.

1) Chemical Processing: Sodium hydroxide (NaOH- also known as caustic soda or lye) is used to ‘cook’ the fiber into a form of regenerated cellulose fiber
carbon disulfide is used for hydrolysis alkalization combined with multi phase
bleaching. This process produces a fiber also known as bamboo rayon or modal.
Chemical processing is the most popular bamboo fiber regeneration process.

2) Mechanical Processing: In mechanical transformation, machines are used to crush the woody parts of the bamboo plant; natural enzymes are then used to break the bamboo into a mushy mass at which point the individual fibers are combed out and spun into a yarn. This is similar to the process used to make linen. As such, the end product in this process is also known as bamboo linen. This process is much less popular than chemical, primarily because it is much more labor intensive and costly.

Both processes present environmental hazards and harmful health effects. As for the chemicals (the more widespread process), breathing in carbon disulfide is known to cause tiredness, headache and nerve damage among the exposed. At factory plants it is also associated with neural disorders among rayon manufacturers.

Low levels of exposure to sodium hydroxide is also known to cause irritation of the eyes and skin. As a strong alkaline base in its crystalline form, caustic soda (NaOH) is one of the major ingredients of Drano. These same chemicals are used not only for bamboo, but in standard rayon processing from wood or cotton waste byproducts.

Because of the health risks posed by these chemicals, coupled with the negative environmental impacts in surrounding factory plants, bamboo manufacturing, like other regenerated fibers produced using hydrolysis alkalization, is not considered eco-friendly, nor sustainable. However, important to note is that some companies ARE producing bamboo organically, using processing that do not involve bleaching.

I bet you never thought the process of buying bamboo sheets was going to be such a complex decision.  Well, depending on how green you want to be, will determine the length of your search for the right eco friendly bamboo sheet.  First off, remember that no matter what bamboo sheets you buy, the materials had to be shipped over from China.  Definitely choose organic bamboo sheets.  These will not be subjected to the harsh chemicals described above.  Honestly, when I bought my organic bamboo sheets I did not look for the FSC certification simply because I forgot to.  I can't even be certain that you will be able to determine if the bamboo used for sheets was derived from an FSC Certified operation.  

There is a whole other issue of worker exploitation that I didn't even cover.  In case you weren't aware, China would probably be the worst choice slightly above the other countries.  China being communist and all, there are zero standards in place to be sure the workers are being treated fairly.  That topic will be discussed in future posts. 

If all of the above information makes it seem like it's just too complicated to buy organic bamboo sheets and be environmentally responsible, consider organic cotton sheets.  Organic cotton is currently grown in China, Turkey, India and eight countries within Africa.  Fair Trade cotton will most likley be easier to find than FSC certified bamboo sheets.  I own both types of sheet and I can attest to both choices being just as soft as the other.  In the end, all your research for the perfect eco sheet would all be for naught if  you couldn't get a good night's sleep.