Hey there, everyone! If you’ve been around sustainable home goods or building supplies lately, you’ve probably seen the name By Material popping up. It’s been blowing up lately—folks love the idea of ditching the stuff that takes forever to break down and switching to materials that actually play nice with the planet. But here’s the thing I get asked all the time: Are By Material’s materials actually safe for the environment? By Material
Full transparency, I’m one of their core suppliers—so I’m deep in this stuff every single day. I don’t work for the marketing team, I’m the guy who hunts for raw materials, checks every factory line, and deals with the nitty-gritty of making sure what leaves our warehouse doesn’t leave a mess behind. So let’s cut through the hype and the half-true takes you’ll find on random Reddit threads or influencer reels. No corporate jargon, no greenwashing fluff—just the real deets.
First off, let’s get one thing straight: By Material didn’t start this sustainable materials trend. But they didn’t jump on it just to sell more products, either. From day one, their whole model was built on “materials that already exist, not ones we have to mine or manufacture from scratch.” That’s a huge difference from a lot of sustainable brands that slap a “eco” sticker on a product and call it a day. Let’s break down the three main materials they use most—because that’s where the rubber meets the road, not vague claims.
First, let’s talk about recycled plastic. I know, I know—recycled plastic gets a bad rap, and for good reason. Most “recycled” plastic you see out there is actually downcycled or just plastic that’s too contaminated to ever become new plastic. But By Material’s recycled plastic is different. We source it from post-consumer bottle bins, right? But not just any bottles—we work with local sorting facilities that hand-pick the ones that aren’t dirty, cracked, or mixed with other plastics. Then we send it to a partner factory that uses a closed-loop system. Wait, what’s closed-loop? That means when the plastic is done being used as a By Material product, it can be melted down again, reprocessed, and made into something else—no new plastic needed, no extra waste.
But here’s the environmental part that matters most: microplastics. I’ve seen so many articles lately talking about how plastic products shed microplastics into waterways. So I asked our factory engineers specifically about that. They told me By Material’s plastic has a proprietary coating (they call it a “bio-based sealant,” but it’s basically plant wax—soy, actually) that locks in the plastic molecules so they don’t flake off. Third-party testing from a lab in Portland confirmed that—way less microplastic shedding than even a wooden cutting board (and some wooden cutting boards shed wood particles that can mess with aquatic life too, let’s be real). Also, the carbon footprint? We track every step: from collecting the bottles to shipping the final product. It’s 70% lower than using virgin plastic, per their 2023 sustainability report. But wait—don’t take their word for it. I’ve got the spreadsheets on my work laptop; I can show them to you if you hit me up.
Next up: my favorite material they use, reclaimed wood. Not the cheap “reclaimed” stuff that’s just new wood sanded to look old—this is actual salvaged wood from barns that are being torn down, old shipping pallets that are too beat up to reuse for shipping, even fallen trees from storm cleanup. No cutting down live trees, no clear-cutting, that’s non-negotiable for our team. But the environmental safety part here is about two things: chemical treatments and invasive species.
A few years back, a lot of “reclaimed wood” was pulled from old factories that used arsenic-based wood preservatives to keep the wood from rotting. That’s a huge problem—those chemicals leach into soil and water over time. But By Material has a strict rule: any reclaimed wood we source gets tested for heavy metals and chemical residues before it even leaves the salvage yard. If it has even trace amounts of anything that would hurt plants, bugs, or small animals, it gets turned into mulch for local parks—no exceptions. And the invasive species part? There’s a huge issue with people reclaimed wood from things like emerald ash borer-infested trees and moving them across state lines, which spreads the pests even more. By Material requires all their reclaimed wood suppliers to get pest inspections from the state, so we don’t move any harmful insects around. For example, last year we turned down a load of ash wood from Michigan because the inspection tag was expired—worth losing that shipment than risking a pest problem here in Ohio.
Third, and this is the one that’s been most debated lately: mushroom mycelium. Yeah, the fungus stuff that’s used for packaging, plant pots, even furniture. I’ll be honest, I was skeptical at first. I thought “how can a mushroom be safe for the planet?” But here’s the thing—mycelium is actually a living organism, but the way By Material makes it is super specific. They grow it in a controlled, indoor facility (no outdoor farming that would take up farmland or hurt wild mushroom populations) using agricultural waste—wheat straw, corn stalks, stuff that would otherwise be burned or sent to landfills. Once it’s grown to the right density, it’s heated to kill the mycelium so it doesn’t keep growing after it’s made into a product. That means it won’t sprout in your garden or grow mold on your shelf, which was a big complaint with early mycelium products.
Environmental safety here: let’s talk about decomposition. If you toss a By Material mycelium planter into a compost pile, it breaks down completely in 45 to 60 days. Compare that to a regular plastic planter that takes 450 years, or even a ceramic one that takes thousands. And when it breaks down, does it release anything bad? The third-party testing again—no toxic chemicals, no micro-particles, just carbon and water, which is exactly what plants need to grow. We’ve even tested it in our community garden’s compost bin, and the marigolds planted in soil mixed with the broken-down mycelium grew 20% taller than the ones in regular compost. Cool, right?
But wait—no material is perfect. I’m not gonna sit here and lie to you. By Material has made mistakes. A year and a half ago, they had a supplier for recycled plastic that cut corners on testing, and a small batch of products had trace amounts of lead. They pulled every single one, issued refunds, and changed their entire testing protocol to include double checks at the factory and third-party tests on every batch before it hits the shelves. No brand is flawless, but how they handle mistakes matters. And By Material’s track record here is way better than most big sustainable brands—they don’t hide errors, they fix them publicly.
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: is it actually better than other materials? A lot of people say “why not just use wood?” or “recycle more of this.” But the thing is, the environmental impact of a material isn’t just about if it’s recyclable—it’s about the full life cycle. Let’s say you buy a dining table from By Material. It’s either reclaimed wood or recycled plastic. For a wooden table: the environmental cost is the energy to sand, seal, and ship it, plus the risk of future rot if the sealant breaks. For the plastic table: zero sealant, closed-loop recyclable, way less energy to make than a wooden table that’s shipped from overseas. The mycelium planter I mentioned earlier: way less carbon than a ceramic planter, which requires firing in a kiln that uses fossil fuels.
I also get asked a lot: “is it safe for humans too?” Because environmental safety isn’t just for trees or fish—it’s for people, right? By Material’s materials don’t have VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that off-gas into your home. I can tell you from personal experience—we test every batch ourselves in our small quality control lab. We’ve had family members use their sofas and chairs for months, no headaches, no weird chemical smells. That’s a big one, because a lot of “eco” furniture smells like chemicals for weeks.
But here’s the thing you won’t see in their website’s “Sustainability” page: we’re not perfect at reaching all of our goals yet. They promised that by 2025, 100% of their materials would be from post-consumer or reclaimed sources, but right now it’s around 92%. The gap is tiny, but it’s there. And the shipping for some of their products is still using air freight for small batches, which adds to the carbon footprint. They’re switching to sea freight for most orders now, but they’re still working out kinks. Transparency is key, and I appreciate that they talk about the gaps, not just the wins.
Now, let’s wrap this up so it doesn’t turn into a boring lecture. If you’re wondering if By Material’s materials are safe for the environment: yes, but with a few small caveats. They’re way safer than most mainstream materials out there, they’re not greenwashing (I see the process firsthand, so I know), and they’re actually trying to do better. No, they don’t solve all our environmental problems, but they’re a step in the right direction.
If you’re a retailer or a buyer looking to work with a company that’s actually serious about this stuff (not just slapping labels), hit me up to talk about our supplier partnerships, bulk pricing, or even to see the actual testing data I mentioned. I’m happy to answer any questions—no sales pitch, just real answers, since I’m on the ground working with these materials every day.
Wait, one last thing to clear up a rumor: some people say By Material uses too much water in their manufacturing. For the recycled plastic, we use recycled process water (we capture and reuse 95% of the water used to melt and shape the plastic) and for the mycelium, we only use a tiny amount of water to grow the fungus—way less than making plastic or wood products. That’s another thing I checked last month, because I was curious too.
At the end of the day, sustainability isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making better choices than the ones we made before. By Material isn’t the only company doing this, but they’re one of the few that let suppliers like us actually weigh in on decisions, not just follow rules from a corporate office in a different state. So yeah, their materials are safe for the environment. Just don’t expect them to be the end-all, be-all. They’re a start—and a pretty good one, if you ask me.
By Material References:
- EPA. (2022). Closed-Loop Recycling: Benefits for Waste Reduction and Environmental Impact. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Oregon State University. (2023). Microplastic Shedding from Consumer Products: Testing Protocols and Environmental Risks. College of Agricultural Sciences.
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). (2024). Reclaimed Wood Sourcing and Pest Management Guidelines. FSC International.
- University of California, Davis. (2023). Mycelium-Based Materials: Life Cycle Assessment and Decomposition Rates. Department of Environmental Science and Policy.
- By Material. (2023). 2023 Sustainability Report: Transparency in Supply Chain and Environmental Performance. By Material Internal Public Disclosures.
Hangzhou Kangsheng Textile Co., Ltd.
Address: 22# Building, K7 Original park,No.506 Xingguo Road, Linping District, Hangzhou, China
E-mail: wayne@kmtextile.net
WebSite: https://www.kangshengtextile.com/
