Plyboo's New Soy Adhesive (live from Greenbuild)

Dan Smith of Plyboo bumped into me and we took a walk over to the Smith & Fong booth. They rolled out a new soy-based adhesive just today... and unlike some things that call themselves soy-based, I'm comfortable saying that about this adhesive. It's 60% soy. It was formulated specifically for bamboo, Smith told me, and they expect to have a complete conversion of their plywood and flooring by the first quarter of 2010 — no more MDI (their current zero-VOC offering — which is zero-VOC for the consumer, but not for the fabricating workers), and no more PF. Both of those adhesives will be discontinued in favor of the new SoyBond. It's a move up in pretty much every way, he said: Better for the makers, the users, and the environment. "At the end of the lifecycle, having an organic based adhesive that will break down better than other current alternatives is a step forward all by itself — but it also really responds to the challenge of working in China." (See Bamboo in Construction: Is the Grass Always Greener?) Their non-emitting MDI line carried a bit of a price premium over the low-emitting PF line; now, all product will be non-emitting. It seems that the price difference that existed between the two lines will about average out — it will all be the most righteous glued-bamboo stuff available, and will cost less than the previous most righteous glued-bamboo stuff available due to manufacturing economics. It's easier to make more of one line than less of two, even if there's no cost savings on the resin. Testing to verify compliance with California 1350 begins next week. As you'll recall, these are also the folks who offered the first FSC certified bamboo products.