A Small Tribute to Bamboo

In appreciation of this great plant, we at The Humble Co. wanted to share a couple of fascinating facts about bamboo with you:

1. Grassy Family
Bamboo is actually not a tree, instead, it is descended from the grass family “Poaceae”. Two other plants that you might already be familiar with, rice and oat, are in the same family.

2. Panda-Friendly
Over 1200 bamboo species and varieties exist in the world but pandas only like to eat certain bamboo species. As a matter of fact, Moso-Bamboo is not on their menu. Besides that, it only grows leaves from 5 meters up and pandas only eat leaves that they can reach.

3. Multifunctional
China has a long tradition with bamboo and they do not only use the wood that comes from the bamboo, but also the young sprouts for their diet. The Humble Co. utilizes the Moso-Bamboo called “Maozhu”, whose sprouts can be eaten, too.

4. FSC and Golden Standard
Since 2004 the Forest Stewardship Council allowed bamboo to be certified by their standards. One of the world’s most innovative and well-recognized global voluntary carbon standard, "the Golden Standard”, has added bamboo into their methodologies. They have recognized bamboo as a highly renewable tool and very effective option for climate change mitigation. The Golden Standard works closely together with the FSC regarding the Land Use and Forest Sector. Find more information on bamboo included in new gold standard & FSC-System. Read more here: Bamboo included in new gold standard & FSC-System.

5. CO2- Neutral
For the 10th World Bamboo Congress in Korea (2015) a Life Cycle Assessment of bamboo was performed and one of the conclusions was: "all industrial bamboo products, based on use in Europe, are “CO2 neutral or better” i.e. CO2 negative. Apparently, the credits for bio­energy production during the End of Life (EoL) phase and carbon sequestration as a result of land change, outweigh the emissions during production in China and shipping the bamboo products to Europe."1

6. Protective Benefits
The “Phyllostachys Pubescens” (scientific name of the bamboo) being one of the fastest growing plants in the world can, under the right conditions, grow up to 50 centimeters a day and can reach 20 meters in total. Through that remarkable characteristic, it can absorb a huge amount of greenhouse gases. Our bamboo is sourced from China where they have an ambitious large-scale afforestation and reforestation program. A lot of work is put in for the conservation of soils and water resources and of course, other protective purposes like desertification control. In 2015 China had a total amount of 6 495 000 hectares of bamboo.2

“Bamboo has rapidly gained prominence as a remarkable production material – in construction, furniture making, flooring, energy, pulp and paper, fiber, crafts, utensils and food to name a few of the many applications. It has won a reputation for its remarkable environmental properties, namely its ability to rapidly help restore land and water, improve soil quality, control erosion, and assist in landscape level adaptation to climatic changes”

Eduard Mansur
Director of the Land and Water Division at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

1. Environmental Assessment of Industrial Bamboo Products - Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Sequestration, 10th World Bamboo Kongress Korea 2015, S. 13.
2. Global Forest Resources Assessment Main Report 2010, S. 23 & Country Report China, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2015, S. 18