TURNING BANANA LEAVES INTO RUGS, FABRIC AND HAIR EXTENSIONS

When it comes to rugs, placemats and even hair extensions, the last thing you think of are bananas. Besides for the delicious banana itself, the tree and its leaves are actually waste, and farmers struggle to get rid of all the waste once the bananas are harvested.

One tree can only be harvested once in its lifetime. One ton of fruit equals two tons of debris.

A lot of farmers burn the trees and leaves to get rid of them, but you can only imagine how much pollution that turns into. That’s why TexFad, a company in Uganda, has figured out how to turn the trees and leaves into everyday items like placemats, rugs, fabric and even hair extensions. Sounds like magic, doesn’t it?

Uganda is the perfect place for this type of company as it’s the country in the world that produces the most bananas.

So, how does a banana tree turn into a rug? First, workers cut the tree into smaller chunks and leave them out to dry in the sun before they push them through an extractor. The extracted fibres are dried again until they feel like a silky yarn.

This is the part where the pieces of yarn can get died to all the different colours before they’re sent off to be woven into all sorts of products.

How the humble banana has gone from a snack your Mom put in your school lunchbox to a $500 rug is kind of mind-blowing.

Watch the Business Insider video below for more on how bananas leaves and trees are turned into everyday items.

Image credit: Walmart