Bamboo Wood Flooring from Smith & Fong Earns FSC Certification
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 04.14.08
Awhile back, when TreeHugger Lloyd asked if bamboo flooring was really TreeHugger green, he noted that the lack of chain of custody certification made it tough to tell whether or not the bamboo came from sustainable sources. There's no arguing that bamboo is quickly renewable, but its green benefits can be canceled out if growing and harvesting it result in deforestation and habitat and biodiversity loss. Thankfully, some of the guesswork has been taken out of this process with today's announcement that Smith & Fong has secured Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its bamboo flooring and plywood.
This certification enables the company to produce "the world's first range of FSC-certified bamboo plywood and flooring," according to their press release. Combined with Smith & Fong's use of glues with negligible levels of formaldehyde, a pretty nasty carcinogen and contributor to indoor air pollution, the certification makes the company's bamboo products a pretty green choice.
Bamboo flooring gets green(er)
Smith & Fong's certified products will qualify for the FSC Pure designation, as they are 100-percent FSC material from an FSC-certified forest and have been sold and/or processed by an FSC chain-of-custody certified company. "The independent European FSC-certifier Institut für Marktökologie (IMO) was impressed with our forestry practices and agreed that if we could meet the same FSC standards for a tree forest, it would certify our bamboo source," Smith & Fong president and founder Dan Smith said. "We have been working with the bamboo forests and telling our story for more than a decade now, and we're grateful to both FSC and IMO for validating our efforts."
What does the certification mean for the bamboo industry?
Bamboo isn't the perfect building or flooring material, but at least this (big-time) hurdle is cleared. We'd love to see a similar certification for labor practices, since so much of it comes from China, or even for indoor air quality, but it's great to know that there's a certified source for the fast growing grass. Now that Smith & Fong have set the bar, we expect other bamboo flooring companies to follow in their greener footsteps, and, with it, bamboo's suspect chain of custody could possibly become a thing of the past. For now, Smith & Fong say the product will be available in the North American market by summer. ::Smith & Fong
See also: ::What is So Great About Bamboo? and ::Bamboo Flooring- Is is Really Treehugger Green?
Well, it's a step towards improving the footprint of this stuff, but there's still the big issue of shipping it from China. Also, they have a major problem with their packaging - I built a kitchen with bamboo plywood, and each sheet came individually wrapped in heavy-duty plastic. Basically negates the green qualities of the bamboo. Smith and Fong need to change that practice, otherwise I think they're doing pretty good.
I agree with applebox. For those of us in the Western, Northern or Southeastern U.S., our native conifers offer an unlimited natural resources that doesn't need to be shipped halfway around the world. Does it grow as fast as bamboo? No. But it is a truly sustainable resource and it comes from your own backyards.
We have installed bamboo flooring a year ago and it is actually everywhere at home, including in the bathrooms! It looks beautiful and feels super clean! :-)
I just went online to see if they say anything about the FSC certification and yes, it's there!
Not sure if I am allowed to post a link here as it may be considered advertisement... Anyway, here it is: http://www.jsonic.ca/flo_bamb_click.php
This is most certainly a welcome development and is something that I am going to promote to my environmental students who are always wary of the potentially nefarious supply chain aspects of bamboo flooring. I think the more one learns about bamboo and compares it to its alternatives; it becomes clear it is one of the best options, though improvements are needed.
In response to Jordo’s comment I kind of have to disagree in that distance is most certainly not always the worst factor in sustainability although of course it matters. That is to say, the worst environmental influences that are felt from flooring in many cases are the accumulation and manufacturing of the wood, vinyl, and other such alternatives. This is because these processes use up loads of energy with great inefficiency and pollute the Earth with significant amounts of waste.
Now if one could get bamboo locally, obviously that would be the best of both worlds. But if not, it is often actually better for one to get bamboo from farther way than certain kinds of wood and especially vinyl imitation wood closer to home, for the reasons I have already stated. There needs to be a compromise between these factors to take a true look at the TreeHuggerness of any product. One can note interesting and accurate parallels with the environmental impact of local vs. distant foods.
There are some pretty good articles on bamboo flooring on this website (yes this is a business site but its info is good and so this is not spamming):
http://www.hardwoodbrokers.com/catalog/bamboo/
Did you know that the carbon footprint of shipping containers from China is MUCH smaller than shipping via truck, coast-to-coast in the continental US.
You probably should have a look at this:
http://www.maerskline.com/globalimage/?path=/about_us/table_of_comparison
3 years ago my wife sold me on bamboo for all the 'green' reasons. She was ahead of me in that thinking. The floor is absolutely beautiful, every room and stairways. Cool and clean for the Las Vegas dessert. Not sure where it was shipped from, but that is an important consideration. Here's a link to an article on the real cost of shipping from China. Good price for importer, bad cost in CO2.
http://hd2o.tv/flog/2008/green-living-more-than-a-chic-hybrid-car/
Do no harm, leave no trace.
Paul
Just a note to thank you for your post about bamboo. I took the liberty of referencing your post in my article at http://realestatetwincities.net/bamboo. As a Minneapolis real estate agent, I am always interested in discussing the pros and cons of various "green" building materials and techniques.