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Adrian Desbarats Discusses the Question – Is Bamboo Clothing Biodegradable?

(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 12, 2010 ) Emyvale, PEI - Adrian Desbarats, President of Fashion and Earth discusses the question – is bamboo clothing biodegradable?

"As per usual, I must mention that when I speak of bamboo clothing I am referring specifically to rayon from bamboo."

Recently, the FTC passed a ruling which strictly prohibits eco-clothing retailers from making unsubstantiated claims about their clothing. For example, all bamboo clothing must be advertised and labeled as Rayon from Bamboo. Additionally, retailers are not allowed to make unsubstantiated claims such as 'bamboo is antimicrobial' or 'bamboo is biodegradable'.'

"For the most part, I am very pleased with the FTC ruling as it will help bring accountability and credibility to this fledgling industry."

"However, I do question their claim regarding biodegradability. For instance, in one press release they state the following:

'Commission charges that these rayon products are not biodegradable because they will not break down in a reasonably short time after customary disposalÂ….''

"What exactly does that mean? From the perspective of an environmentally concerned consumer I would find that remark confusing. So, I am going to take a stab at clarifying what I think they meant."

"In research conducted at the University of Seoul in Korea (Park et al, 2004) rayon, cotton, linen and acetate based fabrics were tested under a variety of conditions following ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standardized tests. In this study, fabric samples were evaluated for biodegradability under an Activated Sludge test, a Soil Burial test and an Enzymatic Hydrolysis test."

"What this study found was that all of these cellulose based fabrics were biodegradable. Interestingly, the rayon showed the highest level of biodegradability in all three tests. And the rate of biodegradation was highly significant. For example, in Activated Sludge tests conducted during the summer almost 30% of all available CO2 was released within 24 days for the rayon fabric. In other words, within less then a month, almost 30% of the cellulose was consumed. Given that a material must break down in around 180 days to be considered biodegradable, IÂ’d say rayon could be classified as biodegradable."

Mr. Desbarats continued "So, I would refute the FTC comments and say yes bamboo clothing textiles are biodegradable. What is really the issue here is that landfill sites, where most products end up, are poorly suited to degrade anything."

"You may remember Dr. William Rathje who through the Garbage Project, which he established at the University of Arizona conducted archaeological digs at landfills. Through these digs he found intact 30-year old newspapers (yep, you could even read them), carrots and hot dogs – the sort of items most would have thought would degrade."

"Land fill sits are highly compacted, devoid of water, nutrients and soil making it extremely difficult for microbes to thrive and do their thing."

"I wonder – based on Dr. Rathje’s findings would the FTC claim that hot dogs and carrots are not biodegradable?"

"But quite frankly, this whole “is it biodegradable” subject is unimportant. At Fashion and Earth we never claimed our products were biodegradable to begin with as to make that claim would seem to convey the message – hey, go ahead and throw out that shirt, it’ll break down anyway. Not the kind of message we want to promote."

"What the FTC should really be saying is – yes rayon from bamboo like most cellulose based fibers are biodegradable and for that very reason let’s keep them OUT of landfills!"

"Anything that is biodegradable should simply not be ending up in landfills where it is very unlikely it will break down any time soon."

"Over 12 million tons of textile waste ends up in our landfills every single year. Over 80% of this waste is perfectly recyclable. So letÂ’s do our part to keep our clothing in use as long as possible by handing them down, trading them up, giving them to charity, etc."

"But once that item of clothing whether it be organic cotton clothing or bamboo clothing has truly reached its end of life (canÂ’t even be used for rags) then send it to the compost pile, not the landfill. As the Korean research clearly demonstrates cellulose based clothing is biodegradable if disposed of properly," concluded Mr. Desbarats.


Adrian Desbarats, President of Fashion and Earth, beginning with a background as a biologist, has a passionate desire to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of humans. Visit http://www.fashionandearth.com to shop for stylish and eco-friendly clothing for women.

Join a community of women who care about the future of their families, and the future of our planet. Visit http://www.fashionandearth.com.

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Fashion and Earth
Adrian Desbarats
902-675-2217
adesbarats@fashionandearth.com


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