Latex is produced from the milky sap of the rubber tree, Hevea brasilliensis. The latex is collected in buckets, as it drips from harmless cuts on the bark. This is an environmentally safe, age-old process very much like that used for collecting maple syrup.

Rubber trees are not tapped until about five years after planting. Latex is milk like substance contained in tiny cells situated beneath the outer bark of the rubber tree. The latex is obtained from the tree by cutting away a thin shaving of the bark about 2mm thick. This cut pierces the cells and the latex oozes out slowly to a collected cup placed below. In two or three hours the flow of latex stops.

The production of latex gloves makes the rubber trees economically valuable and therefore the trees usually are not cut down. Rubber is a versatile product in high demand and therefore they are protected natural resources. These trees also play a valuable ecological role in the earth’s fragile ecological balance by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps prevent global warming.

Latex is a 100% natural substance that breaks down in both sunlight and water. The degradation process begins almost immediately. Exposure to sunlight quickens the process, but natural organisms attack natural rubber even in the dark. The biodegrading time is comparable to a leaf from an oak tree, although the actual degradation time will vary depending on the precise conditions.

Spivey International Incorporated operates with an eye on the environment. We ensure that the organic materials harvested and the production processes are environmentally sound.

Christopher Columbus brought back rubber from Haiti after his second voyage to the New World. In 1820, Thomas Hancock, an Englishman invented a machine which would soften, mix and shape rubber. In 1876, Sir Henry Wickham collected and shipped from Brazil 70,000 seedlings from the wild rubber tree and brought them to England. The small number that survived was taken in 1877 to Ceylon and later to Malaysia.

Peninsular Malaysia is among the world’s most important rubber growing areas and produces almost 20% of the world’s natural rubber.

© Spivey International Inc. 2004