Bamboo

Bamboo is not the perfect sustainable material free of all negative impacts, but there are still many benefits of using bamboo-made items over their plastic or wood counterparts. I will let you do your own in-depth reading but in a nutshell, there is no guarantee that habitat destruction or harmful chemicals are not used in the growing or processing. However, even if there are some of these cases, unfortunately, these cases also occur with alternative materials. Overall, the impact of bamboo-made products is often less damaging than its counterparts. Benefits include:

• bamboo grows fast

• bamboo does not require fertilizers and pesticides

• bamboo is strong

• bamboo is versatile

• bamboo is biodegradable

• bamboo is just beautiful

Here are some of the bamboo items we use in our home.

Furniture

The bench shoe racks by the doors are the largest bamboo furniture we own but we also use small pieces like a bath caddy and boxes and drawer organizers.

kitchen clean-up

I love the clean and practical design of this dish drying rack. It has two levels and folds up when it is not being used. With the switch to bar dish soap, I have become fond of a dish brush that is also easy to sterilize. And of course, we have bamboo storage container lids for tidying beans and such.

kitchen utensils

Chopstick are a common one that comes to mind but I reach for the cooking utensils or salad tongs on a regular basis. I really like the simplicity of this hanging chopping board which is kind to my knives and can easily be used as a charcuterie board.

Self care

The soap slides around on this one a bit more than the last bamboo soap dish but I do like that the water easily drains off. I am fond of a good nail brush, especially as an artist and a dry exfoliating brush is great for that dry skin. Though we use an electric toothbrush day to day, we have bamboo toothbrushes for travel and I recently saw an electric toothbrush design that has bamboo replaceable heads. We also found a bamboo toilet paper which is not bad.

Art Supplies

I talked about my bamboo ink brushes in my last post. I use a few different recycled fiber or bamboo papers but I am in love with this particular bamboo paper which is blended with recycled washi. I also have a variety of display and organizing items including magnetic bars for my sanding and polishing bits and business cardholders.