Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada.
A tree farm is a forest managed for timber production. The term, tree farm, also is used to refer to tree plantations, tree nurseries, and Christmas tree farms.
The Forest Stewardship Council A. C. (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. It is an example of a market-based certification program used as a transnational environmental policy.
A bamboo floor is a type of flooring manufactured from the bamboo plant. The majority of today's bamboo flooring products originate in China and other portions of Asia. Moso bamboo is the species most commonly used for flooring.
Certified wood and paper products come from responsibly managed forests – as defined by a particular standard. With third-party forest certification, an independent organization develops standards of good forest management, and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operations that comply with those standards.
Kleercut is the name of a former campaign conducted by Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and others towards Kimberly-Clark. It lasted from 2004 to 2009. Kimberly-Clark is the world’s largest manufacturer of tissue products, most notably the Kleenex brand. According to its annual environmental report, the company purchases over 3.1 million metric tonnes of virgin fiber from logging companies annually. The Kleercut campaign claims that this fiber is derived from wood pulp from old growth forests. Kimberly-Clark claims that the forests in question are largely cut for timber. The Kleercut campaign claims that Kimberly-Clark support the clearcutting of such forests in Canada and the United States, including forests habitat for wolverine and threatened wildlife the woodland caribou. Kimberly-Clark has responded that many of its supplies are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative or the Canadian Standards Association.
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is an Indonesian pulp and paper company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world, it was founded as Tjiwi Kimia by Eka Tjipta Widjaja in 1972. Asia Pulp & Paper is a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group and was officially formed in 1994 when Sinar combined its paper and pulp operations from Tjiwi Kimia and PT Inda Kiat Pulp & Paper.
Olam International is a major food and agri-business company, operating in 60 countries and supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 19,800 customers worldwide. Olam is among the world's largest suppliers of cocoa beans and products, coffee, cotton and rice.
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a sustainability organization operating in the U.S. and Canada that works across four pillars: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI has two youth education initiatives: Project Learning Tree and Project Learning Tree Canada. SFI is the world's largest single forest certification standard by area. SFI is headquartered in Ottawa and Washington, D.C.
Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited, or APRIL, is a developer of fibre plantations and the owner of one of the world's largest pulp and paper mills with operations mainly in Indonesia and China. APRIL mainly produces bleached hardwood kraft pulp and uncoated, wood-free paper, including its Paperone brand of office paper. Founded in 1993, APRIL is managed by Royal Golden Eagle and owned by Indonesian business man Sukanto Tanoto living in Singapore. Royal Golden Eagle also manages companies in paper, palm oil, construction, and energy business sectors.
Bamboo textile is any cloth, yarn or clothing made from bamboo fibres. While historically used only for structural elements, such as bustles and the ribs of corsets, in recent years different technologies have been developed that allow bamboo fibre to be used for a wide range of textile and fashion applications.
Tree-free paper or tree-free newsprint described an alternative to wood-pulp paper by its raw material composition. It is claimed to be more eco-friendly considering the product's entire life cycle.
Oxytenanthera is a genus of African bamboo. Bamboos are members of the grass family Poaceae.
Sustainable flooring is produced from sustainable materials that reduces demands on ecosystems during its life-cycle. This includes harvest, production, use and disposal. It is thought that sustainable flooring creates safer and healthier buildings and guarantees a future for traditional producers of renewable resources that many communities depend on. Several initiatives have led the charge to bring awareness of sustainable flooring as well as healthy buildings. Below are examples of available, though sometimes less well-known, eco-friendly flooring options. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommends those with allergies to dust or other particulates choose flooring with smooth surfaces – such as hardwood, vinyl, linoleum tile or slate.
Kronospan is an international company that manufactures and distributes wood-based panels which are used in applications including flooring, furniture and timber-framed houses.
Duro Bag Mfg is the largest paper bag manufacturer in the world and produces paper bags for numerous companies in the US. Duro Bag Mfg was founded in Covington, Kentucky in 1953 by Mr. S. David Shor and is still a privately owned company. Duro Bag is the only manufacturing facility at the Port of Brownsville that is non-maritime related. Charles Shor, who became President and Chief Executive Officer in 1987, ran the company started by his father until July 1, 2014.
Interfor Corporation is one of the largest lumber producers in the world. The company's sawmilling operations have a combined manufacturing capacity of over 3 billion board feet of lumber with sales to North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Interfor is based in Vancouver, BC and employs approximately 3400 people. In May 2014, Interfor opened its corporate office for the USA south-east region at Peachtree City, Georgia.
Environmental certification is a form of environmental regulation and development where a company can voluntarily choose to comply with predefined processes or objectives set forth by the certification service. Most certification services have a logo which can be applied to products certified under their standards. This is seen as a form of corporate social responsibility allowing companies to address their obligation to minimise the harmful impacts to the environment by voluntarily following a set of externally set and measured objectives.
Greenheart Group is a listed multi-national forestry company based in Hong Kong.
Dendrocalamus asper, also known as giant bamboo, or dragon bamboo, is a giant tropical, dense-clumping species native to Southeast Asia. Due to its common occurrence across Asia and its attractive features as well as ease of harvesting, this species has been introduced widely across Latin America and Africa. It is a sympodial or clumping bamboo that does not show lateral growth and therefore has no invasive properties.
