Bamboo is a magical plant that populates tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Used mainly for building materials and medicinal purposes, bamboo has many uses as it contains an abundance of benefits itself;
Top facts
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Fast growing - Bamboo grows at a very quick rate, some species of bamboo can grow 36” in just 24 hours… That's crazy!
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Requires no pesticides / fertilisers - The plant creates bamboo kun an antimicrobial agent that wards away insects and other plants from interfering with its growth. It also uses its own dead leaves as fertiliser, needing no intervention by humans.
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Doesn’t need replanting - Bamboo has the ability to regrow when it is cut, getting rid of the need to replant everytime time making it extremely sustainable.
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Naturally anti-bacterial and hypoallergenic - The bamboo kun mentioned earlier, also stays with the plant when transformed into other forms. This makes the finished bamboo material anti-bacterial and also odour resistant. Perfect for items such as pillowcases and mattress toppers.
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Panda’s love it - If the panda’s love it, then so should we! They consume around 13 kilos of bamboo every day to keep them going.
Environmental Positives
Bamboo plants are also great contributors of oxygen to the atmosphere, producing 35% more oxygen than the standard tree volume. Bamboo forests also work as CO2 sinks, effectively trapping the CO2 inside the plant and not realising it at any point of its life cycle. In areas of the world where droughts occur, bamboo plants also have the ability to store water in their culms (trunks) and then release back into the soil as and when it is needed to regulate the water in and around it. It’s not often that a plant comes with such a number of benefits of using it and to the environment.
Bamboo is proving to be an area of great interest recently, as these bamboo forests can be grown a lot quicker to help the adverse problems growing in the world today. By using bamboo as an alternative for other materials we can start to pave the way to reduce the rate forests are being cut down.
The Uses Of Bamboo
There are a lot of uses for bamboo, from medicinal purposes to bamboo clothing. This eco-friendly versatile grass (yes grass) in modern history is primarily used as a building material. The strength to weight ratio of bamboo makes it a great building material which it has been used for hundreds of years. In countries where it grows the most, it is a vital resource that is a cheaper alternative to wood or concrete building materials. Bamboo can replace almost all structures commonly made of wood such as foundations, scaffolding and paneling.
Recently there has been a surge in bamboo home goods like bamboo toothbrushes. These alternatives to plastic toothbrushes are biodegradable and sustainable, so no wonder people are flocking to them. Another huge use is in bedroom products. Pillowcases, duvet covers and even towels are now being made out of the super grass. Bamboo fibres are placed above cotton on the comfortability scale and as someone who owns a bamboo towel I can agree, so soft!
