Bamboo / rapidly renewable
Bamboo is one of the most versatile, fastest-growing plants in the world; a tree-like grass that self-regenerates from its roots and possesses a tensile strength greater than steel. Bamboo is a CO2 sequestering material with many uses, e.g., building structures, furnishings, textiles, and foodstuffs.
BamCore is developing the world’s first global supply chain of carbon sequestering bamboo for its products.
BioDesign Research Group at Virginia Tech explores carbon neutral solutions for the built environment.
Brentano fabrics are made from 100% bamboo viscose, a rapidly renewable and biodegradable fiber, and compliant with GOTS, Global Organic Textile Standard, guidelines, Tenderness is part of the Brentano Green fabric label and available for possible LEED points.
Green Matters offers a brief, highly readable overview about what makes bamboo sustainable and more.
Plyboo makes Pure Bamboo and Soy-based formaldehyde-free binders and offers a wide range of sustainable design solutions to the international marketplace.
Teragren offers sustainable and versatile bamboo panels, veneers, and countertops to meet a wide range of manufacturing needs, while also being environmentally friendly.
Rizome bamboo boards are made from giant bamboo species such as Dendrocalamus asper, native to Southeast Asia that provides extra thick material and the versatility required for varied applications.
Biochar / sequestered CO2
Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous material made from biomass such as agriculture byproducts, forestry residues, and solid waste (sewage sludge). It is made by high-heat, low-oxygen processes, e.g., pyrolysis, and sequesters CO2 for hundreds to a thousand years or more. Biochar is a valuable material for enriching agricultural soil and is utilized in various products within the built environment, such as concrete, floor and wall tiles, acoustic ceiling tiles, pigments, dyes, and plastics.
International Biochar Initiative (IBI) is a platform for fostering stakeholder collaboration, good industry practices, and environmental and ethical standards to support safe and economically viable biochar systems.
US Biochar Initiative (USBI) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the sustainable production and use of biochar through research, policy, technology, and implementation in North America for sustainable food security, improved soil fertility, environment, and climate resilience.
US Biochar Directory By State lists biochar suppliers and their contact information by state across North America. Resources may be sorted by name, state, or sector.
Biocomposite / natural fibers
Biocomposites are made by combining resin with natural fibers, which provide structure and strength. Biofibers, which are generated from renewable sources such as hemp, flax, jute, bamboo, or even recycled materials such as wood chips or agricultural leftovers, are major components of biocomposites. As a result, biocomposites create healthier and safer, lighter-weight materials than traditional petroleum-based composites.
BioFoam is fully compostable but with the excellent properties and freedom of shape of EPS. It almost seems too good to be true. Nevertheless, we have succeeded in creating an even more sustainable alternative to EPS based on polylactic acid (PLA) that comes from vegetable waste.
Circular Matters leverages the power of plants to create materials that replace fossil-based plastics and resins.
HuisVeendam develops bio-laminates based on natural local fibers and starch and replacing synthetics.
Lingrove produces flax-based, carbon neutral surface materials for building and automotive interiors.
NatureWorks has developed a 3D printable Ingeo biopolymer, made from renewable biobased feedstocks, is a low-carbon alternative to petrochemical-based plastics and fibers.
Omlab focuses on the raw materials that the water boards can produce from sewage, such as cellulose, lime and kaumera Omlab has researched new printable bio-based pastes, both in terms of material composition and exploration of the applications. The material dries well and is 3D-printable and biodegradable.
NPSP develops and supplies innovative, environmentally friendly, 100% biobased composite materials and products for public space, construction, design, and mobility.
Strong by Form has developed Woodflow, a fabrication technology that follows these natural form functions of trees. Their proprietary additive manufacturing process can create high performance, ultralight, timber-based structural composites for the construction and mobility industries at a fraction of their environmental impact.
Bioleather / biodegradable
Bioleathers are grown from living microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, algae, and fungi found in plant root systems. These microbes can be fabricated to produce biopolymers that are grown in a mold to develop leather-like materials that are harvested without any waste and are biodegradable at the end of life.
Ananas Anam offers Piñatex® and Piñayarn®, made from pineapple leaves to create textiles and leather alternatives.
Biofabricate drives sustainable biomaterial innovation for all global sectors including leading fashion companies.
Polybion makes biomaterials that are chromium-free and REACH, EPA, and ZDHC compliant from fruit waste.
Pyratex fabrics are made from plants using their unique formula for production chain from plant to fabric, it is a traceable process ensuring the lowest environmental impact. (GOTS, GRS and OCS certified textile supplier.)
Revoltech is developing LOVR™, an alternative leather produced from hemp, and biodegradable.
Tjeed Venhoven produces Palm leather made by dipping the dry and brittle leaves from the Arecae Betel Nut.
Tômtex is a leather alternative created from seashells or mushroom waste for fashion, packaging, and products.
Vitro Labs lab-grown leather can make billions of square feet of leather with a single, harmless biopsy from one cow that allow those skin cells to regenerate indefinitely.
Muskin is a 100% vegetable alternative to animal leather. It is made from the Phellinus ellipsoideus, a large parasitic fungus.
Biopolymer / non-fossil based
Biopolymers are used to produce bioplastics that can replace petroleum-based plastics across a wide range of industries from automobiles and packaging to biomedical applications. Biopolymers can help reduce CO2 emissions, solid municipal waste, and the reliance on petroleum-based resources.
New Light harnesses microorganisms found in nature to transform greenhouse gases into AIRCARBON™: a bio-based material alternative to fossil-based plastic.
UKHI offers hemp-based bioplastic granules for injection and blow molding; an alternative to fossil-based plastics.
UBQ™ is a bio-based thermoplastic made from 100% unsorted household waste, including all organics and unrecyclable materials.
Biogreen Padding is a unique and highly-efficiency padding polymer made with no oil or animal-based products, using only natural and renewable resources – which are partly obtained from recycled vegetable materials and organic renewable sources.
Metavoxel creates high-performance materials by mimicking the open cellular architecture of bone, wood, and sponges. These cellular geometries used to produce lightweight and strong metamaterials can improve structural efficiency and reduce the cost and environmental footprint of the built environment.
Great Wrap is made with compostable biopolymers. Currently, Great Wrap uses plant-based oils, agroforestry waste, and pbat within its range of products. Its material inputs are certified home compostable and food contact approved. Great Wrap is available in Australia and the United States.
Bricks / low-embodied carbon
Ancient bricks made from mud clay, shaped into bricks, and sun-dried in the open air formed a very low embodied carbon building material. In recent years, mass produced clay bricks have required higher heat to create higher performing bricks yet causing higher embodied carbon. Now, to decarbonize bricks, a wider range of materials, additives, and energy sources are becoming available to produce low embodied carbon bricks that are energy efficient, long-lasting, and increasingly recyclable.
Brickworks manufacturing process to produce Austral Bricks (Carbon neutral bricks) products use waste sawdust from the local Tasmanian timber industry as a fuel to fire kiln.
Building with Earth is a designer's project that looks at the Mexican landscape to find alternative construction materials. The designer has found an abundance of ancient soil that she mixed with rice husk and water to form a liquid that can be cast in formworks.
Gent Waste Brick for DING a low carbon brick made from recycled municipal waste from the city of Gent has been developed for the construction of the new wing of the Design Museum Gent.
KENOTEQ K-briq uses a low-carbon production process and makes bricks made from inert 100% recycled input materials, offering a low carbon alternative to traditional masonry.
IsoHemp hemp block is manufactured according to a very low energy-consuming process, using 100% natural materials (limestone and hemp) that are sourced locally. This creates a positive carbon footprint since a pallet of IsoHemp hemp blocks stores 100kg of CO2.
Michelmerch is developing new 100 % hydrogen-fired, low-carbon clay bricks.
Timbercrete is a mud brick style alternative with improved insulating and thermal qualities plus superior erosion resistance and structural capabilities.
YiBrick is manufacturing a recycled brick using ceramic waste that is designed to lower the carbon emission as compared to the traditional building products. These bricks and tiles are lighter, stronger and uses less energy to manufacture.
CobBauge is a low cost system using eco-friendly materials and methods for intended use as a replacement wall made in two layers, using traditional cob with high strength fibers like straw along with high clay content binder.
Seratech cement produces zero-carbon construction materials, including concrete blocks, bricks, and plasterboard, using waste CO2. This process solves a major problem for hard-to-abate industries relying on carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reach net zero, as very few cement plants are close to sequestration sites.
BC materials' Léém blocks are rectangular-shaped building materials made from excavated earth, comprising clays, silts, sands, and gravels. Natural clay acts as the main binder.
Colorado Earth’s EcoBlox are earth bricks produced at the foothills of the Flatiron Mountains in Colorado using sand and clay fines from a nearby granite quarry.
