Bamboo - Coming of age
There is a new material making waves across the Western world, used in common items such as the toothbrush and razor as well as flooring and clothing. This is no new material however; it has been around 30 to 40 million years. The biggest fan of it has historically been the Giant Panda who eats up to 38kg of the stuff every day.
We are, of course, referring to Bamboo. The plant has been receiving lots of attention with some outlandish claims, this article aims to focus on what we know about bamboo, its origins, the main players and the current market for the product.
What is Bamboo?
Let’s first start with what bamboo actually is. Bamboo is in fact not a tree but a species of grass. There are over 1,500 species existing in the world today. It varies in size, from small annuals to giant timber bamboo over thirty metres high. And it’s been adopting more land over the years, now taking up over 36.8 million hectares1 of land today, that’s the size of Germany!
When you talk about bamboo species you will typically here about their rhizome. This is an essential parts of bamboo plants which bears their roots. Bamboo species are generally divided into sympodial (a species that clumps together) and monopodial (nonclumping or running whose root system spreads outward). The most prominent is Moso, or Phyllostachys edulis which is a monopodial bamboo growing across large swathes of China.
The other fascinating part of bamboo is its flowering. Depending on species bamboo flowering can be categorised into three major types; annual, irregular (sporadic) and gregarious. Gregarious flowering is when all populations of a particular species of bamboo flowers all at once. For most species of bamboo, this can happen at intervals anywhere between 30 to 130 years. This flowering cycle is genetically pre-programmed into each species. That means wherever in the world these plants are, they will flower at the same time.
Flowering is important for the collection of seeds but also for another reason; the plant will often die. This can be problematic as the timing of this flowering can be difficult to see if you do not know the species.
Why is it so special?
The attention on bamboo is mainly due to the speed at which it grows. One particular species called Dentrocalamus Giganteus grows at a speedy 91cm in 24 hours. And that is a serious advantage over trees!
What’s more, its naturally alternating fibre directions make bamboo as strong as steel.
Put these two attributes together and you have a really interesting material that can compete with some really important alternatives such as plastics and trees.
What about its sustainable credentials?
When we talk about the sustainability of bamboo, we are really talking about bamboo vs. other materials with similar properties. Unfortunately, these comparisons are never that straight forward, however there are some things that we can be certain of.
Let’s take a look at plastic, wood and bamboo.
To see how sustainable a material is, we need to see how much greenhouse gases it takes in and emits throughout its lifetime. Most available research currently focuses on woods and plastics so let’s start there. Take the example of a pallet used in manufacturing. To produce a wooden pallet, the carbon amount is actually negative, coming in at -34kg CO2eq. This is because it actually sequesters more carbon than it uses. A plastic pallet on the other hand is derived from fossil fuels through a process of polymerisation and comes in at +62kg CO2eq.
To capture the full carbon footprint it's important to also look at the usage and disposal (incineration) of these pallets for a fair comparison. In this case, when both pallets are used to their end of life and incinerated the total CO2eq is 0.34kg for wooden pallets and 120kg per plastic pallet. That’s a huge difference and gives us an idea of the importance of material selection in fighting climate change.
We can see that plastics are already out of the race. The question then comes to wood vs. bamboo and this is where it becomes more complicated.
The carbon sequestration piece is critical in this comparison. The best research so far indicates that bamboo comes out ahead here also. When bamboo is intensively managed i.e. the poles are cut upon maturity throughout its lifespan then bamboo can sequester between two and nine times more than a Chinese Fir plantation per hectare. We’ll have more on carbon sequestration and how it’s calculated in a later article.
It should be noted that bamboo does require some phosphate fertiliser to be grown^3 which is made via a GHG intensive process. This however has only a small carbon footprint in a full lifecycle analysis.
With these carbon sequestration levels, bamboo on degraded land can also able to attract carbon credits as seen on programmes such as Gold Standard. And with the voluntary carbon market growing in size there is an opportunity to supplement long plantation cycles with offset funding.
What is it used for?
Bamboo as a material is currently used across multiple areas. The key areas are described below:
Pulp & Paper
Replacing - Virgin timber
Taking up 40% of timber trade globally the Pulp & Paper industry is a whopping $348Bn in size^5. The opportunity for bamboo to become a viable alternative to virgin wood is significant. One of the key areas is that of toilet paper and tissue, where we will see increasing demand for the product, particularly in the developing world.
It’s worth remembering here that recycled cellulose fibres from typical wood last between 4-6 trips through the recycling process, so for as long as we have toilet paper and paper we’ll need virgin wood or bamboo.
Packaging
Replacing – Virgin timber, plastic
Companies like Dell are already using bamboo in their packaging. They use it as eco-friendly cushioning for select Dell laptops. And when customers are done, the bamboo trays can be easily recycled. The alternative here is Oil-based, virgin plastic materials such as PET, PVC and polystyrene which emit harmful toxins during production as well as in landfills, where they can take years to break down, if at all.
Textiles
Replacing - cotton, wood, silk, wool
The cellulose fibres of Bamboo can be used for textiles also. Currently wood is the main source of this cellulose fibre. In fact 6.7 million megatonnes is produced every year (6.2% of total fibre production volume)^6. The opportunity is significant for bamboo to be a legitimate substitute for wood.
However there is still work to be done to improve the sustainability credentials of the manufacturing process to separate the bamboo fibres. Because bamboo contains mineral components that have to be removed to produce the high-quality dissolving pulp. Typically, this purification requires the use of aggressive chemicals and causes waste issues. In woody plants like trees, however, these mineral components are concentrated in the bark, which is easily removed early on in the process.
Construction
Replacing - Timber, steel, concrete
The use of bamboo poles is already widespread across SE Asia however its use in more regulated environments is still low due to its non-standard sizing. Engineered bamboo is currently predominantly used for non-structural uses within the home, such as flooring panels. The transition of engineered bamboo as a material in structural areas of homes is still fairly nascent in the western world despite its impressive properties. The potential for the material in construction is possibly greater in the developing markets due to the supply of the material and less stringent construction regulations.
Where is it grown?
The vast majority of Bamboo grown commercially comes from Eastern China with 3 million hectares of land dedicated to the crop. A reported 65% of bamboo exports comes from the country. That’s an estimated export value of $1207mn. The remainder of Bamboo production is spread across tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America, extending as far north as the southern United States or central China, and as far south as Patagonia. They also grow in northern Australia.
In Europe, there is also the emergence of start-up companies looking to commercialise the crop in Italy, Spain and Portugal. More on that later.
Why does China dominate the market?
The single bamboo species that China grows is a result of a huge deforestation effort that took place in Eastern China by Emperor Zhu Di to build his grandiose Forbidden City in the 1400’s. Huge areas of bamboo were developed to replace the forests. This conversion to Bamboo has meant the largest and most mature Bamboo area in the world emerged. Today this means there is an endless expanse of mature parent plants that allows for a quick and easy movement of planting material from a mature parent plant, to the desired location for a new Moso bamboo plantation. This can result in a fully mature plantation within three years.
The reality for locations outside of China, however, are that they must work from seedlings. And during this period, such bamboo plants require extensive management, care and treatments. The timeframe is 5–7 years for tropical clumping species, or 10+ years for Moso bamboo in the United States. This however is still significantly shorter than the amount of time for commercial trees to grow.
Who are the companies to look out for?
The bamboo market is a competitive one with major players in SE Asia predominantly. These companies work across various different areas across the growing of bamboo, processing of it for pulp and manufacturing of it for goods.
The major players in China and India are:
Kerala State Bamboo Corporation Ltd. - Based in Southern India this State owned company handles every aspect of bamboo from collection from homesteads (331,702 tonnes p/a) and their extensive bamboo forest region (221,000 available p/a). They also manufacture boards and flooring tiles as well as weaving mats which they sell globally.
Jiangxi Feiyu Industry Co. Ltd. - One of the leading manufacturers of flooring, furniture and stairs with 1886 ha. of Bamboo forest area and more than 1,600 employees. Based in China they have 1 Bamboo furniture company, 2 bamboo floor companies as well as other semi manufactured goods of bamboo branches.
Newland Bamboo - Over the last couple of years have developed significant manufacturing space to develop toilet tissue made from the local moso bamboo. They currently manufacture 1,200 tons of finished paper per month.
Shanghai Tenbro Bamboo Textile Co. Ltd. - Based in China they manufacture bamboo fibre and export 90% of this internationally. The company has 2x spinning mills with 90000 spindles, a Bamboo pulp mill and Fibre Mill with an impressive production capacity of 30000tons/year of bamboo fibre and 50,000ton/year bamboo pulp.
Outside of China and India:
Ecoplanet Bamboo - Have developed plantations in Nicaragua (5,500 acres), South Africa (1,200 acres) and Ghana (1,500 acres). They are one of the first U.S. based companies to establish large scale plantations in emerging markets. The company is targeting to create a full supply chain within the pulp and paper space and by creating an alternative packaging to styrofoam from their bamboo.
Moso International B.V. - Based in the Netherlands; Moso International source manufactured Bamboo products from Chinese manufacturers. They also work with them to develop products to sell into the European market. They are the leaders in Europe having supplied the Madrid Airport and Hotel Jakarta in Amsterdam.
New entrants:
Bamboo Logic - Moving to Europe; Bamboo Logic is an early-stage company looking to create the first large-scale bamboo plantation in Europe. They are currently looking to plant an initial 150 hectares of a planned 2,000 hectares in Portugal. Watch out for these guys!
Rizome - Growing the giant bamboo in the U.S. and Indonesia this U.S. company is targeting the construction industry, initially through non-structural materials. They have plantations in the U.S. and Indonesia and are currently raising for their second and third factories.
Bamcore - Have developed a Prime Wall system that is used in prefabricated houses. The group source their bamboo from a range of suppliers across emerging markets.
Planboo - Originally from the UK, but now based in Sweden; Planboo are developing plantations in North East India in partnership with local communities.
Bamboo, the verdict!
Bamboo as a material is starting to appear in various different products, from flooring to toothbrushes. The products are all currently imported from China who has a natural advantage in the growing of bamboo due to its historically large area devoted to the grass.
However with an increased knowledge around the 1,500+ different species including required conditions, bamboo properties and product suitability the ability to effectively grow and manufacture products has never been greater.
Bamboo use cases with the lowest barriers to entry currently appear to be pulp and paper, packaging and textiles as well as non-structural building materials. However, bamboo as a replacement for materials such as concrete and steel should not be discounted, particularly in single storey or dual storey construction.
Bamboo as a material has suffered on numerous occasions due to its portrayal as this miracle material. This has led to some overpromises from the industry as a whole. However, the various companies over the last fifteen years have allowed the material to build up a greater bed of knowledge and create a more pragmatic approach to its properties and use. With this greater understanding, we now must see increasing capital moving into the space to accelerate the creation of plantations, development of manufacturing facilities and research into viable product lines.
If you found this informative and you’d like to learn more please drop us a line at hello@econology.io.
Sources:
1 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419304111
2 https://www.greenstarbikes.com/exceptional-properties
3 https://www.inbar.int/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/INBAR-TR-43.pdf
