Is bamboo parquet really "green"?

    Is bamboo parquet really

    What could be more "green" than bamboo? Used in the most varied sectors, from clothing to flooring, this robust but at the same time flexible plant is characterized by its rapid growth and its robustness that allows it to do without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, as well as making us happy. the big pandas.



    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    What could be more "green" than Bamboo? Used in the most varied sectors, from clothing to flooring, this robust but at the same time flexible plant is characterized by its rapid growth and its robustness that allows it to do without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, as well as making big pandas so happy.



    Some time ago we told you about the bamboo parquet, valid alternative to the traditional wooden one, thanks to its particular characteristics of resistance and hardness, but above all of the renewability of the raw material. In fact, where an oak takes about 120 years to reach maturity, bamboo usually employs 3.

    Furthermore, from a social point of view, bamboo is one very large source of income in China, where 6 million people are employed in the production and processing of this plant, and one of the myths to dispel is precisely that according to which the bamboo harvest used for parquet it would take away from the food of the already endangered giant pandas. In reality these wonderful creatures feed almost exclusively on gods shoots and leaves of only some species, which are found at high altitudes and not in the plains where bamboo is harvested for industrial processing.

    Despite everything, recent studies published by the Environmental Building News had highlighted very worrying problems relating to unsustainable management of the bamboo plant, concerning in particular the replacement of virgin forests in China, and in general in Asia, with huge bamboo plantations so much to become one exclusive monoculture. But not only that, other concerns concerned theuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase their yield, with consequent strong negative impacts on local biodiversity and on the soil, which is dangerously damaged and eroded especially in steeply sloping air.

    However the good news is that in reality these practices do not seem to be so widespread after all, as they initially appeared.

    A question still to be resolved, however, is that of certificazione, as the equivalent of FSC has not yet been foreseen for bamboo. In fact, although bamboo forests could be certified according to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), this has not yet happened. And the response of this reluctance on the part of the FSC to certify bamboo lies precisely in the intrinsic characteristics of the plant, which wood is not exactly.



    In fact, bamboo is not a solid material that is cut into boards like traditional wood, but, especially parquet, is made up of thin strips that are pressed together with glue, which depending on the supplier, may or may not be formaldehyde-free. And the product obtained varies according to the hardness (which in turn depends on the maturity of the plant), the quality, the color (clear or charred), the orientation of the filaments or strips (horizontal or vertical) or the manufacturing process ( laminated or pressed).

    And obviously linked to the issue of certification, to affirm the effective sustainability of this plant, is the speech relating to the management of chemicals that are used by suppliers for processing, in particular the quality of glues, resins, binders and the quantity of formaldehyde they contain. And so the choice of the supplier, at this point, which makes the difference between a truly green product and one that is only half green. But since there is no third party that certifies this product, how can the truthfulness of what the suppliers say is actually verified?



    An appropriate certification, not only in the final part of processing but also in the initial part of cultivation, is therefore the only way to demonstrate the real environmental advantages of this prodigious plant with multiple uses.

    Gloria Mastrantonio

    Read also Bamboo parquet? Solid, resistant and renewable

    Read also Ecological floors: 5 alternatives to hardwood parquet

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