A Chinese manufacturer has already sold 20,000 keyboards made from a renewable resource gaining an increasing amount of attention: bamboo.
Jiangqiao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co. Ltd., whose primary business is manufacturing bamboo flooring, uses the waste materials that were once burnt for fuel for the keyboards,
China’s Xinhua reported.
Bamboo has been
previously used to make keyboard frames, but the key buttons make Jiangqiao Bamboo and Wood Industry’s keyboards unique because they, too, are made from bamboo.
Aside from being sturdier than the conventional plastic used to make keyboards, bamboo, the world’s fastest-growing plant, is said to provide a cool touch in the summer but stay warm in the winter, while also absorbing ultraviolet radiation and preventing static electricity.
The company began mass producing the bamboo keyboards in October for European and U.S. markets, but franchises were set up in China this year to sell the products. Roughly 260 workers make the keyboards on an assembly line that can produce 30,000 units per month.
The keyboards sell for between $12 and $44, Zhang Lina, Jiangqiao Bamboo and Wood Industry's sales manager, told Xinhua. The company had already delivered 20,000 keyboards to wholesalers, with orders for another 20,000 in mid-April.
A bamboo mouse could hit the market by June.
"Bamboo keyboard image provided by Jiangqiao Bamboo and Wood Industry.
