05/12/2020
With more sustainable products emerging to the market it’s important to recognize what makes a product sustainable?
I’ve learned producing a sustainable product may not always have the best environmental impact.
Let’s take these bamboo toothbrushes. It claims to be made out of bamboo which grows relatively fast in one day.
So, that’s awesome because we can produce as many bamboo made products without deforestation which in turn can hurt the environment.
However, what companies don’t tell us altering a raw material to get the outcome we have must undergo a chemical change. So, now bamboo is no longer bamboo. It is now known as Rayon bamboo.
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Rayon fibers are considered not natural or artificial. The term ‘regenerated’ refers to the fact that a chemical change does happen in the processing of bamboo.
So the reformed or reconstructed bamboo cellulose fiber is called ‘regenerated cellulose.’ This chemical process emits chemicals to our water, hurt the people who are exposed to the toxics and polluted our air.
A product may seem sustainable on the outside but on the inside it’s not always the case.
P.S. I never even knew this until I read FTC’s green guide. I decided to dig a little bit deeper. I, too have purchased products because it looks sustainable.
We are not alone on making these mistakes. It’s not to bash on other people who may not know either. It’s about sharing these information to others so we can make better decisions.
