Rapidly renewable typically refers to products based on plants that are harvested within a 10 year cycle.
Most common examples are bamboo (see bamboo flooring and bamboo textiles posts), and cork. Flax, used in linoleum flooring, is also rapidly renewable. New products are continually coming onto the market, using such agricultural products as wheat (e.g., wheat board), straw, sunflower seed hulls, and sorghum stalks. Cotton is also considered rapidly renewable. Although not from a plant, wool is sometimes also included in this list.
The idea is that these products have short enough harvest cycles that using them is not depleting finite raw materials, as using petroleum based products would be, or even renewables like wood which still take considerably longer to replenish.
While I would encourage people to seek products made from rapidly renewable materials, it is important to remember that it is only one of many sustainable characteristics, and it doesn’t address issues of agricultural production, namely chemical use, water use, monoculture, natural resource or food crop destruction for construction purposes, product transportation, and end of life. On the other hand, some agricultural waste products that would otherwise have been burned in the fields are now being put to good use in products (such as wheat straw, sorghum stalks and sunflower seed hulls). Cork is a particularly interesting example as the groves of cork trees tend to support biodiversity, and the harvesting (removal of the bark) is necessary for the plant to survive.
Here’s a couple of good articles (with a US bias) on products options and issues of rapidly renewable materials:
- “Rapidly Renewable Materials’ Comples Calculus” by B.J. Novitski
- “Growing Demand: The Green-Building Industry Seeks Rapidly Renewable Materials” by Jeff Stephens
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