We have a variety of sustainable practices in place to ensure we not only offer customers the chance to purchase eco-friendly products but that we’re also having a positive impact on the environment through the running of goBambu.
Our sustainability practices start from the growing or recycling of our base materials, through the entire lifespan of our products and of course what happens to them when they’re no longer suitable for use.
PRODUCT MATERIALS
We wouldn’t be an eco-friendly products company if we didn’t offer eco-friendly materials. Take a deeper dive into some of the materials that make our products so unique.
Bamboo
With a name like goBambu, it’s hardly surprising that the majority of our products are made from bamboo or moso bamboo to be more specific.
So what is moso bamboo (the type of bamboo pandas don’t eat for those worried!) and why is it so sustainable?
Sustainably grown
Moso bamboo, technically being a grass, grows at an astonishingly quick rate – it can grow up to 10ft in just 3 weeks!
It’s also regenerating which means that once we’ve cut the bamboo down for use in our products, it will grow back to 10ft again in the space of a few weeks without the need to plant new bamboo.
It also doesn’t need any fertiliser to grow and even helps with soil regeneration. In some areas of the world where the land is barren, they use bamboo as a catalyst for crop growth.
Highly durable
As mentioned in some of our product descriptions, bamboo has a greater tensile strength (the force it takes to pull something apart) than steel and is even used in reinforcing concrete in construction projects.
Biodegradable
Of course, being a natural material, bamboo isn’t immune to the effects of natural degradation. Under the right conditions, bamboo can be composted and safely absorbed back into the soil in just a few months.
Organic cotton
Over 26 million tonnes of cotton is produced each year and the growing of that cotton can be incredibly unsustainable. Vast areas of farmland is being fertilised over and over again in a bid to mass produce as much cotton as possible as cheaply as possible.
It’s for this reason that we only use GOTS certified organic cotton which is monitored throughout its production to ensure it’s both sustainably and ethically grown.
Recycled materials
Part of living in a sustainable world is making use of what we’ve already produced. It’s for this reason that we have a keen interest in bringing products to the market that have been created from post-consumer waste that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
Examples of some of these products include our vegan leather rucksack which contains recycled polyester and our rope dog leads that are made out of mountain climbing rope.
PACKAGING
All of our packaging is completely free from virgin plastic and virgin materials. This means that our products are usually shipped in recycled cardboard boxes as well as secured with recycled sticky tape.
On occasion for smaller items, we use mailer bags produced from recycled low density polyethylene.These mailer bags would originally have been items such as plastic bottles or shopping bags before being transformed into our mailer bags and are 100% recyclable.
We also upcycle packaging from our own personal lives so don’t be surprised if your order arrives in a cardboard box that was used for our monthly coffee subscription!
SHIPPING
When we ship our products to you, they will be the responsibility of our delivery providers (Royal Mail or Hermes) and thus, out of our control.
What we can control however is the delivery of our products from our manufacturers in Ningbo. By working with a limited number of suppliers, we can manufacture small quantities of a variety of products and have them all shipped together.
Whilst this reduces the amount of travel needed for our deliveries, it also means we only produce as many products as we need which reduces overall wastage.
PEOPLE
It goes without saying that building an ethical company starts with the people. We only ever work with suppliers where employees are paid at least the living wage, only work a maximum of 8 hours of day and have a safe working environment.
Our manufacturers use the latest technology to produce our products which typically means programming a computer is the extent of a day’s work!
CARBON OFFSETTING AND TREE PLANTING
The final part of our policy and perhaps our favourite is our carbon offsetting and tree planting initiative. Unlike some other companies who use tree-planting is a marketing ploy to buy their products, we plant trees every month – regardless of the amount of sales we get. This means we don’t need to guilt trip you into buying our products. If you like our products and want to buy them, great. If you’re not sure and leave our site, oh well. Trees will be planted regardless.
We also invest in carbon offsetting projects such as peat regeneration, forest preservation, solar energy, wind energy and the conversion of methane gas into energy (among many others). This is to ensure we’ve completely offset our carbon right away – the planted trees are just the added bonus!
Overall, we’re a climate positive company and always will be.