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Many tropical areas in Southern India and Sri Lanka are home to a number of rubber plantations.
Rubber-Cal recently traveled to Sri Lanka to uncover the process by which natural rubber
material is produced and made into many of CoirMat.com’s eco-friendly matting products.
Natural rubber plantations offer a number of durable, eco-friendly advantages. Rubber
trees like these are grown in wilder, less cultivated areas. Small producers and their
families work these plantations.
On these rubber plantations, rubber trees naturally produce rubber sap that is collected
through a process called “cutting.” This sustainable process involves tapping rubber
trees by cutting away the tree’s bark and collecting its sap in hollow coconut shells.
Once the sap has been collected, those cuts are covered to allow the tree to heal.
Workers use machines like these older models to press the rubber sap into long rubber rolls
and sheets. At some small farms, rubber sheets are smoked and left out in
the sun to age.