First-Ever Library Cards Made from Bamboo

I and others I know are trying to live a more eco-conscious lifestyle. This includes forgoing plastic shopping bags for reusable tote bags, separating our garbage into recyclable components, selecting products that are sold in minimal packaging, purchasing secondhand clothing instead of "fast" fashion and, among my more hardcore friends, composting under the kitchen sink or in the backyard, using a menstrual cup instead of disposable feminine products, and biking everywhere.

The San Rafael Public Library, in San Rafael, California, is offering an additional way to be environmentally friendly. This month, it began offering the first-ever library card that is made entirely from renewable bamboo:
 

Image via the San Rafael Patch

To provide the bamboo library cards, the public library system in Northern California partnered with Grovemade, a Portland, Oregon-based company that is "focused on art, design, craftsmanship, and natural materials," according to the Grovemade website. "The bamboo library cards were created to promote the City of San Rafael's goals to create a greener environment through several initiatives, including changes in lifestyle, city operations, and construction," the San Rafael Public Library announced on its website.

The new library cards, made from renewable wood, are individually hand-sanded and oiled, and they are touted as being just as durable as library cards made out of plastic. The San Rafael Public Library is encouraging patrons to exchange their plastic cards for the bamboo ones in an initiative titled "Free Library Card Replacement Month," which will last throughout the month of July. As with all other library cards, the bamboo library cards are free. From this month onward, all San Rafael Public Library cards issued to patrons will be made from bamboo instead of plastic.

Addressing the public through its website, the San Rafael Public Library said, "Join us in making our planet a better place and think of ways that you, too, can reduce plastic waste." Making the planet a better place is a worthy goal for sure, and it's great that library-goers in San Rafael, California, have another way of doing so. For more on the bamboo library cards that are now being issued by the San Rafael Public Library, go to THIS LINK and THIS LINK, too.