ForeThought: Unnatural resources

March 25, 2010 | Galynn Nordstrom

When I bought my vintage 1926 home in 1992, I discovered a parting gift in a small room in the basement-a barrel of coal from the house's coal furnace days. After trying to dispose of it lump by lump in various Christmas stockings over the years, I finally just stacked some old encyclopedias (and a copy of James Joyce's "Ulysses," as I recall) on top of it and left it alone.

It isn't that I actually thought that applying pressure to the coal would eventually turn it into diamonds, although it did make a nice conversation piece when people came to visit. Mostly, I just felt that there should be something useful to do with it, someday.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibers, and sponsored a year-long series of events seeking to raise awareness of the benefits of natural fibers over synthetic and petroleum-based textiles, which are not viewed as sustainable. But for more than a decade, researchers and innovative businesses have been developing incredible new fibers, fiber treatments and fabrics from abundant and renewable local resources:

> The University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, is using hagfish slime fibers to develop a prototype composite for use in products such as textiles, biomedical and electronic devices, tissue engineering and biosensors.

> NatureWorks LLC, Minneapolis, Minn., makes Ingeo^TM plant-based fibers that are being used for products ranging from floor mats for the Toyota Prius to carpeting, sustainable fashions, cups, plates and cutlery used at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

> A natural biopolymer that strengthens the shells of crustaceans can be combined with fragrant oils to produce odor-repellent, stain-resistant and antimicrobial automotive interiors, according to researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

> The Philippine Textile Research Institute has discovered how to convert the hard, coarse fibers of indigenous plants into soft spun yarns, which potentially can be blended with polyester, cotton or silk for apparel, home textiles and industrial use.

> Silk crepe kimonos made with Teijin's eco-friendly BIOFRONT^TM bioplastic will be worn by Japanese restaurant staff at the Japan Industry Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

> At the recent ATNT-2009 conference in India, the Kumaraguru College of Technology presented results on the development of composite fibers using chicken feather fibers.

The advantages are not only ecological but economical, as textile industries around the world start finding industrial applications using local resources and byproducts to help replace the loss of manufacturing caused by inexpensive imports. The combination of high-tech processes and abundant, replaceable and natural resources is already having major impacts on the specialty fabrics industry.

And as far as my basement goes, I can wait for someone to come up with some fabulous fabric that is made from coal, with perhaps the addition of some of the centipedes populating the surroundings. The wine cellar, however, already has a target market.

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