Stainless Steel & Bamboo Thermos
Product Eco Rating
Bamboo as a material is very strong, quite durable and in this form, it’s completely biodegradable. Stainless Steel is extremely durable and 100% infinitely recyclable.
As this thermos is made of 100% sustainably farmed Bamboo with a Stainless Steel insulation, it’s reusable and at the end of its life, the Bamboo can be thrown in the compost to biodegrade or recycled with the Stainless Steel.
The Stainless finish on the Steel will prevent toxins leaching into your drinks and if it’s incorrectly disposed of or thrown out and ends up in landfill, it won’t leach toxins into the environment either.
Relatively thin volumes of Steel and Bamboo are used with the goal of reducing weight, although it does somewhat decrease the items durability. The lid of cup and base of the thermos contains plastic and rubber, which are recyclable yet reduces the sustainability rating of the products manufacturing process. There is also a rubber pad on the base of the thermos to increase grip and some synthetic materials to prevent leakage and improve insulation.
Sustainability of Bamboo & Steel
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world and very easily renewable as the stems just need to be chopped and roots do not need to be dug up to plant a new crop. Bamboo plants also improve the quality of the soil, reduce erosion, produce Oxygen and soak up more than 5 times the CO₂ than similar plants. Very little work is required from harvesting the Bamboo to turning it into products, such as the outer part of this thermos.
Growing, harvesting and regrowing Bamboo is extremely sustainable, then the material itself is extremely strong and durable. Bamboo is tougher than any Hardwood and when comparing its tensile strength to Steel, which is 23,000 PSI, Bamboo outperforms it and is stronger with 28,000 PSI.
When Bamboo isn’t manufactured using a chemical process, it’s completely recyclable and 100% biodegradable.
Stainless Steel does have a bit of a harsher manufacturing process than Bamboo products, although it’s getting much better and the end product is extremely durable and infinitely recyclable, so once the Steel product is made, the materials hardly go to waste and have the ability to never go to waste.
Over the last 70 years or so, the heavy process of manufacturing Stainless Steel has had a steady and impressive reduction in the energy required and harmful toxins released during the process. Now, it’s estimated that about 80% of all Stainless Steel that’s produced is from about 70% recycled materials, which heavily further reduces the harm from the manufacturing process.
