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Eco Materials 101

Your guide to eco materials

When following an eco-friendly lifestyle, it’s not always easy to know which material or fabric to look for. This guide lists some of our favourite materials to help you find the right materials.

products made of eco-friendly materials

Stainless Steel

stainless stell pot on a rock

The first thing that strikes when you hold a stainless steel item is the feeling of durability. Drop a glass bottle, it breaks, drop a stainless steel bottle… it breaks the floor.

Joke aside, stainless steel items are known for their capacity to take some beatings and for their general longevity. Moreover, that material is also resistant to corrosion thanks to the inclusion of a small percentage of self-repairing chromium during the manufacturing process.

And if it does break or becomes useless? Is stainless steel biodegradable? Well, stainless steel properties make it an inert material, thereby it isn’t biodegradable. But, unlike plastic, it is easily recyclable and can be recycled endlessly, without quality loss. In fact, when buying a new stainless steel item, chances are that it is already made of 50 to 60% of recycled content.

Durable, resistant to rust, low maintenance and recyclable, stainless steel is definitely gentle on the planet. But what about its impact on health?

That material is a top-choice for medical items and food processing… two sectors where an excellent hygiene is vital. And for a good reason, but make sure you opt for good quality stainless steel.

In general, you want to look for BPA-free, chemical-free and food grade stainless steel. In addition to be corrosion resistant, stainless steel is easy to clean and, unlike plastic, doesn’t leak harmful chemicals such as BPA and phthalapes.

Now, when it comes to pick stainless steel for cookware, you may want to keep an eye on food grades and keep the amount of nickel as low as possible. Indeed, there are some concerns of small quantities of chromium and nickel leaching with long cooking time and high temperature. 

In any case, stainless still remains a healthier cooking solution for your sustainable kitchen than Teflon, aluminium an many non-stick items!

Featured products made of stainless steel

Tencel (Lyocell)

tencel-fabric-example

We love Tencel. And if it’s not your first time on beeco, you must have noticed that already. It’s one of our favourite clothing fabrics, as much for its quality as for it’s sustainability. In fact, when compared to the main fabrics you can find in fashion stores, Tencel may be our numero uno.

What is Tencel you may ask? It is actually a brand name. 

Tencel is the most known producer of lyocell fiber in the world and for that reason, lyocell fibre is generally referred to by its brand name.

So what kind of fabric is Tencel exactly? 

Tencel’s lyocell is a regenerated fibre, also called rayon, which means it is a man-made fibre made from cellulose (organic compound). Thereby, it’s kind of a middle ground between naturally grown fibres such as cotton or hemp and chemically made synthetic fibres such as polyester (he who must not be named). 

But before you throw Tencel into the same basket as polluting man-made synthetic fibres, hear us out!

Tencel’s lyocell is produced by Lenzig AG, an austrian company (yay, it’s local!) and its innovative manufacturing process has actually much less impact on the environment than some natural fibres such as traditional cotton.

First of all, the cellulose they use to produce the fibre is extracted from sustainably sourced wood. No forest is harmed in the process.

tencel-closed-loop-manufacturing

Then comes the manufacturing process. The cellulose is transformed into fibre using a solvent-spinning process within a closed-loop system that results in sustainably made, biodegradables Tencel fibres.

Then comes the manufacturing process. The cellulose is transformed into fibre using a solvent-spinning process within a closed-loop system that results in sustainably made, biodegradables Tencel fibres.

We won’t give you a detailed explanation of that closed-loop manufacturing process. What is to be remembered here is that the water and 99% of the NMMO solvent (non-toxix and organic) used in the process is captured and reused again and again in order to reduce as much as possible the environmental impact.

And what about the quality and durability of fabrics made of Tencel?

Tencel fabric is just great, you won’t have to compromise there either. Its texture and ease to be blended to other fabrics makes it perfect for almost any kind of clothing. It is durable, resistant, extra-soft, breathable, hypoallergenic and moisture absorbent. 

Tencel clothing will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter. What else do you need?

Featured products made of Tencel

Organic Cotton

woman in an organic coptton field

Before getting to the actual organic cotton (and examples of good products like organic cotton pyjamas), it seems important to tackle the (still widely spread) misconception about traditional cotton being an eco-friendly fibre (emphasis on traditional). After all, it grows naturally and it’s biodegradable. So what’s the matter?

The matter is that too often we forget to consider other constituants that make a product/material eco-friendly or not. In the case of cotton, even though the final product isn’t bad for the environment, its production process actually is… 

Being the most-demanded natural textile fibre in the world (95% of the demand), we can blaim an excessive demand, pressuring producers to use unethical methods to grow the cotton faster. 

The thing with cotton is that it requires a huge amount of water to grow. We are talking about 29 000 liters to produce… 1 kilo of cotton. And out of that, you will barely get a t-shirt.

And let’s not forget the amount of pesticides used to grow the cotton faster. 

Now let’s talk about its eco-friendly brother: organic cotton.

The main difference between cotton and organic cotton is obviously the farming process, but you will be happy to hear that organic cotton products are also stronger and healthier.

Organic cotton is grown using methods that have a low environmental impact. It basicaly tries to fix the negative impact of its older brother, which implies several “improvements” such as: 

  • No chemical fertilizers and GMO are used in the growing
  • It uses rainwater as an alternative to fresh water (up to 80%)
  • Soil fertility is maintained by a soil rotation system (less irrigation)
  • Not pesticides are used. Pest in managed with beneficial insects 
  • Crops are handpicked (it results in stronger, purer and softer cotton)
organic cotton savings

Thereby, organic cotton is better for the environment (soil, water consumption, carbon footprint…), safer for the health of the workers and benefical to animals and insects. In addition to that, no chemicals are used in the manufacturing of the organic cotton, which makes is a great hypoallergenic clothing fabric.

So why hasn’t organic cotton totally replaced the conventional one yet? Well let’s have a look at some disadvantages of organic cotton.

Some sources claim that cotton labeled as organic may not always be as sustainable as we think. And this is mostly based on the fact that organic cotton plants produce less cotton fibre than traditional GMO plants. 

Which means oragnic farmers need more lands, hence more water and workers, to produce the same amount of cotton. All this contribute to higher production costs and thereby, higher retail price for products made of organic cotton fabric.

Also, not using harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides is great. But natural and synthetic pesticides are still allowed, and some of them, such as Rotetone, can actually also be harmful. 

The key is control and knowledge. We must make sure that a majority of rainwater is used for organic farming and that the natural pesticides used are safe. But there is the problem: it’s not always easy to make sure of this.  

Yet, despite this lack of control, organic cotton remains a better, healthier and more eco-friendly option than traditional cotton.

Featured products made of organic cotton

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