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World Bamboo Day is a day of celebration to increase the awareness of bamboo globally. Where bamboo grows naturally, bamboo has been a daily element, but its utilization has not always been sustainable due to exploitation. The World Bamboo Organization aims to bring the potential of bamboo to a more elevated exposure – to protect natural resources and the environment, to ensure sustainable utilization, to promote new cultivation of bamboo for new industries in regions around the world, as well as promote traditional uses locally for community economic development.
Cariloha is a proud sponsor of this year’s World Bamboo Day! As part of this year’s festivities, Cariloha has donated its Cariloha Bamboo socks to the World Bamboo Organization for their race on Cape Cod, Massachusetts today! Go Bamboo!
Recognizing 10 Bamboo Businesses in the USA and Canada
By World Bamboo Day Organization
If you reside in the United States or Canada, you probably noticed that the ‘business of bamboo’ has come a long way in this neck of the woods in recent years. Not too long ago any bamboo company that you might come across was more than likely a bamboo flooring business. In part, the flooring industry paved the way for a bamboo consumerism. Now with modern techniques and technology, bamboo can be processed into a wide range of commodities. As of late, we are enjoying the existence of numerous other types of bamboo businesses in North America that offer a plethora of unique products and services utilizing and promoting bamboo as a replacement to traditional, less renewable materials like tree pulp, or pollutants like plastic.
The following lists 10 bamboo businesses in the USA and Canada that we would like to celebrate and acknowledge this year on World Bamboo Day. Congratulations to all of them for the work they’ve done to promote bamboo alternatives for the sake of the environment and the economy. Each company here has demonstrated their passion for and dedication in promoting bamboo.
1. Bamboo Leaf Tea. Bamboo leaf tea and extract have been used medicinally in the Indian Ayurvedic tradition as well as in Chinese medicine for hundreds of year. Now offered by this company founded in 2010 in sunny Florida, Bamboo Leaf Tea grows its own bamboo and processes its tea without the use of chemicals. Bamboo Leaf Tea has a wonderful sweet, green flavor and offers many benefits. The tea is a source of silica and is a whole food format which can be absorbed better than a supplement. Bamboo Leaf Tea is committed to promoting the benefits of bamboo.
2. Bambooee . A staggering 13 billion pounds of paper towels are used by Americans alone, every year. That’s around 130 million trees (on the basis that one paper pulp tree provides 100 pounds of paper). Paper towels are dispensed every day in restrooms and kitchens across North America and worldwide. Bambooee, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, offers an innovative solution with its reusable but disposable bamboo towel made from bamboo viscose. They can be washed up to 100 times before beginning to break down. They have the same look and feel as ordinary paper towels – even coming in a roll, mimicking how paper towels are normally consumed. The big difference though, is that one doesn’t just tear a sheet and throw it away. Instead, each sheet of bamboo towel is washable and reusable. A roll of 20 Bambooee sheets replaces 60 paper towel rolls, helping you reduce waste and save money. Made from certified organic bamboo, a sustainable source, the Bambooee Towels are also strong, absorbent and durable.
3. Boo Bamboo, a company hailing from Toronto, Canada, makes use of bamboo extract in their hair and skin care products because it is so rich in mineral and organic proteins. Especially for their hair care products, Boo Bamboo promotes its bamboo extract as an aid to strengthen hair follicles and retain moisture to promote shine. Not only are they committed to utilizing bamboo, but Boo Bamboo is also dedicated to using other gentle and safe ingredients across their product line.
4. Bum Boosa Bamboo Products, founded in 2009 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was the first company in the USA to offer baby wipes made from bamboo viscose, an alternative to traditional tree pulp and plastic fiber wipes. Billions of disposable baby wipes are tossed into landfills every year. In fact in 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that if someone were to load all the disposable wipes purchased by consumers in North America that year onto 18 wheel semi trucks, it would take 9,000 trucks, stretching for 68 miles. That statistic is five years old, and since then the wet wipes industry continues to drastically expand. Bum Boosa® also asserts that bamboo can help alleviate the burden that our forest lands bare for other tissue and paper products. Hence, they launched the first 100% tree-free bamboo bathroom tissue offered in the U.S. and Canada in 2010.
5. Cariloha is truly the first clothier to offer an entire wardrobe from head to toe made from organic bamboo viscose blends, this company was founded back in 2007 and is headquartered in Sandy, Utah. Today, Cariloha is the only multi-store retailer in the world with an entire store experience completely merchandized with bamboo-based products that now also includes sheets, towels and blankets. Their stores are located throughout the Caribbean, west and east coasts of the U.S., Hawaii, and Alaska. They are the number one apparel brand throughout the cruise industry. You really have to step inside a Cariloha store to fully appreciate the multi-sensory bamboo experience that they have skillfully created for their customers.
6. Ontario Bamboo. Ontario Bamboo was founded in Ontario, Canada in 2010 after several years of research – research conducted to determine which bamboo species would survive in Southern Ontario’s unpredictable climate. Ontario Bamboo is offering bamboo solutions to Southern Ontario’s ecosystemic demands with incredible environmental benefits. Ontario Bamboo prides themselves in a thorough knowledge of bamboo and the bamboo industry. They offer consultations for bamboo product development, the bamboo industry, risks and challenges, and bamboo farming.
7. Ever Bamboo, a company founded in 2007 in Calgary, Canada, brings bamboo charcoal to North America. The benefits of bamboo charcoal have been enjoyed for more than five centuries in Asia. Bamboo charcoal has been traditionally used as a substitute for wood charcoal or mineral coal. Some of its many uses include to purify and to deodorize. As a deodorizer, it can absorb toxic chemical substances for consumer (shoe, sport equipment, fridge, closet, drawer, etc), commercial and industrial applications. When submersed in water, bamboo charcoal softens the water, absorbs harmful minerals including chlorine, and releases its natural minerals (calcium, sodium, magnesium) into the water. It can be used as aquarium filter, water filter for bath water and non-drinking water, and for general household and industrial use. It can also serve as a dehumidifier since its high density and porous structure enables bamboo charcoal to absorb excessive moisture effectively. When humidity is low, the retained moisture would be released back into the atmosphere.
8. Bambooki. was founded in 2010 in San Diego, California. Bambooki is a response to the rapid growth of the bamboo industry, and offers consumers a one-stop shopping experience for bamboo products online. With over 1,000 products, their entire website features the top bamboo alternative products.
9. Woo Bamboo, founded this year in 2013, and with its headquarters in Cape Coral, Florida, offers bamboo toothbrushes. Over the course of a year, most people replace their toothbrush an average of three to four times. This amounts in over a billion brushes thrown away in the United States every year. That’s about 50 million pounds of toothbrushes sitting in landfills across the country every year with more piling on every day. Most traditional brushes are made from non-biodegradable materials, which mean that these brushes will keep sitting in the landfill for years to come. It’s very rare for these brushes to get recycled, and trying to dispose of them by burning or other methods just makes more pollution and waste. It’s poor hygiene to keep your toothbrush for more than a few months, so Woo Bamboo offers a solution with a bamboo toothbrush. The bamboo used in a WOOBAMBOO toothbrush is sustainably grown, organic, BPA-free, naturally anti-microbial, durable, biodegradable, and it’s stylish, too! WOOBAMBOO also totes the highest quality Dupont Tynex bristles, so your dentist would approve, as well.
10. Bamboosa founded in 2008 and located in Andrews, South Carolina, they are a clothier specializing in fiber from organically grown bamboo. All of their clothing are made from 100% viscose fiber produced from certified organically grown bamboo or blended with cotton, organic cotton, Lycra or recycled polyester. Bamboosa’s bamboo viscose is imported from China, and all fabric production, as well as dying and sewing, are created in South Carolina by second and third generation seamstresses who take great pride in what they do.
*A special thank you to each of these companies listed above for participating in World Bamboo Day celebrations with World Bamboo Organization this year. Each company has generously donated their products to share with participants at our World Bamboo Day 2013 5K Walk/Run Race in Cotuit Village on 9/21/2013.
* Although not a bamboo company per se, we would also like to extend our gratitude to Water the Bamboo for their participation and support of World Bamboo Day 2013. Water the Bamboo is a company providing inspirational and motivational presentations, using bamboo as a remarkable metaphor that inspires businesses and organizations to grow.
AND A BIG THANK YOU to the BAMBOO GARDEN of North Plains, Oregon for donating the non-invasive bamboo plants as Award Gifts for the Race Winners!