FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Portland, Oregon – March, 2016 - bambu has again achieved full organic certification for the company’s two core product lines. This year, the organization that performed the onsite audit and full business review is Ceres Corporation, the German-based environmental standards certifying group. Ceres is accredited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Bambu has earned organic certification for the Veneerware® brand of disposable bamboo plates and bamboo dinnerware. Veneerware consists of disposable plates, disposable cutlery, and disposable bowls and bamboo trays. The Veneerware range is also biobased certified by the USDA.
The company has also earned organic certification for its line of reusable bamboo utensils. The range consists of bamboo spoons, spatulas, sporks, tongs, bamboo servers, and bamboo straws. Bambu is the only brand granted the use of the USDA organic seal for it’s reusable bamboo kitchen tools. The company uses a certified organic finishing oil in the production process of its bamboo kitchen utensils.
Bambu is the only company that has achieved organic certification for its source of bamboo. Bambu has earned organic certification of its products every year since 2007.
The annual audit consists of several steps including an onsite inspection of the source of the bamboo. The bamboo material used to make the Bambu brand of products is sourced in the mountainous region in Eastern China and harvested by individual farmers whom lease their land from the government.
The bamboo forest is inspected to ensure that it is not grown with pesticides or fertilizers, and that the bamboo is grown free from any chemicals.
The second part of the annual organic certification inspection process is a social compliance audit that reviews how the material is handled throughout the manufacturing process from harvest through to production. The social audit includes factors such as age, and wage and environmental compliance and safe working conditions.
Ceres only grants the certification if a business meets both the material handling requirements and the social compliance requirements.
Fair Trade Original, an organization based in Holland, provides the evidence that supports this claim. The company has established a set of requirements that their vendors must meet before they will agree to represent a brand. Auditors from Fair Trade Original visited China in 2012 to review the company’s production process and meet first hand the manufacturing partners. After onsite inspection and interviews, the bambu brand became the first brand producing in China to be ever be accepted by the Fair Trade Original group.
For this reason, it is acknowledged that Bambu complies with Fair Trade principles. Bambu has been grated organic certification for nine years.
With roots in Portland, Oregon, since 2003 Bambu has designed, developed and manufactured handcrafted, modern home products made from renewable materials such as bamboo, hemp, cork, coconut and soy. The company is headquartered in Shanghai, China, where it produces more than 150 different products in its own production workshop and partnering facilities, all of which are located close to their raw-materials sources. Its products are sold in more than a dozen countries through diverse retail distribution partnerships in the gift, kitchen, gourmet, grocery and hospitality market segments. The company is a member of Green America, is recognized as a Gold Tier business Green Business Network, and manufactures using organic sources certified by Ceres. A selection of Bambu’s products is also USDA Biobased-certified.
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