White Seagrass & Jute Tablemat - Respin This natural woven seagrass tablemat has a natural coloured jute rim and features a little fabric ReSpiin label sewn onto the edge. Hand made responsibly in Bangladesh and coloured with Azo-free dye. Both seagrass and jute are naturally renewable, sustainable, and biodegradable materials. Wipe clean only Approximately 28cm diameter. About The Plant Jute plants are easy to grow, have a high yield per acre and, unlike cotton, have little need for pesticides and fertilisers. Jute grows during the rainy season in Bangladesh which is from June to October. The plants are ready to harvest in four to six months, after the flowers are shed. The fibres lie beneath the bark around the woody core. To extract the fibre, the jute bundles are submerged in water and left for a few days until the fibres come loose and are ready for stripping from the stalk, then washed and dried. This is what the ReSpiin baskets are made from. The remaining jute stalks can be used in a similar way to wood pulp, or work well as a renewable source of cooking fuel. Jute plants help to clean the air. During growth they take in three times more CO2 than the average tree, converting this CO2 into oxygen. Jute plants also enrich the soil. As these plants grow fast, they are often used in crop rotation. The leaves and roots left after harvest enrich the soil with micronutrients, maintaining soil fertility. Jute is 100% biodegradable. . They have developed an innovative way of producing jute rope and stylish jute baskets which means that can produce a much higher return from the jute than when it is sold for basic jute sacks.