Bamboo, Escardo said, is deeply intertwined with Chinese history and culture, and can provide green jobs and economic opportunities for people in rural areas. This has made it the largest exporter of bamboo products, and overseas demand is increasing as the West pursues its own emission reduction efforts, Escardo said. Upstream, the industry also faces high costs due to a lack of mechanisation in the felling of bamboo, according to Wang Xian, founder of a bamboo plywood manufacturer from Taojiang county, Hunan province. The country began to reduce plastic consumption in 2008, banning supermarkets and shopping malls from providing disposable plastic bags for free to shoppers. Though bamboo is just one solution among many to curb the world's excessive consumption of plastics, Escardo said, "if we have many solutions together, the opportunity to compete with the plastic industry will be higher.
