Bamboo flooring has been touted as an environmental miracle material: relatively inexpensive, hard-wearing, and from a fast growing and renewable resource. But is bamboo flooring the green building material it is cracked up to be? We take a look at what bamboo flooring is, where it comes from, and the pros and cons you should consider before installing a bamboo floor.
Did you know that nearly 5 million tons of carpet (about 1.9 billion square yards) was produced in the United States in 1999 using non-renewable petroleum based synthetic fibers, and in that same year 2.4 million tons of the same fibers were discarded into landfills (enough to carpet New York City,) and that it took on average 10.1 gallons of water to produce 1 square yard of carpet (ultimately becoming toxic waste.) These numbers would be staggering if 1999 represented an industry anomaly, but they don’t, they are a culmination of an industry that has always been determined to grow.