Eco Friendly Yarn
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 05.12.07
The resurgence in knitting has created great demand for eco friendly yarns for those knitters who who want to reduce their eco footprint. Green options says: synthetic yarns are also bad for the earth, since they are made from petroleum. Vegans object to using wool, and, although great for many heirloom projects, are just not as sustainable as some of the newer options. Industrially-produced cotton brings with it a slew of environmental problems, including water and soil pollution. TreeHugger has highlighted a few eco yarn options, such as repreve, yarn recycled from post industrial waste, green yarn from Alpaca and recycled saris, hip knitting options, yarn made from corn, and bamboo yarn.
Soysilk is another renewable yarn made from the residue of soybeans from tofu manufacturing, the process is 100 percent natural and free of petrochemicals, soy is a completely renewable and biodegradable resource. (check out the tofu bear made from soysilk mentioned in this previous TreeHugger post). ::via The Arizona Republic ::soy silk
I thought that acrylic yarns were made from a byproduct of petroleum, so that it was making use of what was otherwise waste. If someone knows of a good site to read in greater detail about the environmental impact of the more common yarn types, please share the link--I'm very interested.
Somewhere (wish I could remember where) I heard that processing bamboo into yarn takes so much power and water that it is in fact not very eco-friendly. Have you ever heard this?
I wonder the same thing about the corn fiber--also what pesticide load is necessary to grow the corn? Very interesting. I'm a big fan of the hemp yarn from Hemp for Knitting, myself.
I'm also interested in this blog/thread. I would like to know more and more about eco-friendly fiber, even though I don't mind using wool. I really want to try soy yarn, as well as sea kelp and ceramic yarn.
Lots of interesting points raised in the comments. The relative green-ness of tech fibres versus natural ones is a fascinating subject, and rather hard to tease out. Air miles ought to play a part too, and usinglocal materials is important, as well as supporting small producers or fair trade suppliers who have made committments to environmental improvements and human / animal rights. I prefer to buy UK organic wool, or at least wool produced in the UK from small firms who haven't shipped or flown it around the world for processing.
The best way to ensure you're buying eco wool in the UK is to approach individual smallholders or small farms. The UK now has several 'mini-mills' that process natural fibre in small batches, thus allowing the knitter to be able to trace a ball of yarn back to the individual animal it has come from.
We farm alpacas in Warwickshire and i have my yarn spun in Banbury (less than 30miles away). As alpaca contains low levels of lanolin it does not have to be chemically washed (scoured), and as alpaca comes in a myriad of natural colours it does not have to be dyed. To read more about what we've done with our yarn visit www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk
my most eco friendly scarf was once a sari then a shirt and finally a scarf.
i take material that was loved long ago and tear into strips knot together to make yarn and make somthing new.