Fancy Toilet Paper: Really Bad For the Environment

Toilet paper is perhaps one of the least environmentally friendly products on the planet. As bizarre as that sounds, think about it – it’s a one-time use product that is made using valuable resources which can’t be reclaimed for use in future products. Even more disturbing is that virgin timber from rare old-growth forests in Canada are being used to make the ultra-premium varieties of toilet paper. The New York Times reports that major manufacturers are taking steps to introduce versions with higher levels of recycled content, but these don’t currently sell as well as the thick, cushy variety.

The Times explains:

In the United States, which is the largest market worldwide for toilet paper, tissue from 100 percent recycled fibers makes up less than 2 percent of sales for at-home use among conventional and premium brands. Most manufacturers use a combination of trees to make their products. According to RISI, an independent market analysis firm in Bedford, Mass., the pulp from one eucalyptus tree, a commonly used tree, produces as many as 1,000 rolls of toilet tissue. Americans use an average of 23.6 rolls per capita a year.

Other countries are far less picky about toilet tissue. In many European nations, a rough sheet of paper is deemed sufficient. Other countries are also more willing to use toilet tissue made in part or exclusively from recycled paper.

In Europe and Latin America, products with recycled content make up about on average 20 percent of the at-home market, according to experts at the Kimberly Clark Corporation.

Environmental groups say that the percentage is even higher and that they want to nurture similar acceptance here. Through public events and guides to the recycled content of tissue brands, they are hoping that Americans will become as conscious of the environmental effects of their toilet tissue use as they are about light bulbs or other products.

When these facts are laid out, it seems kind of crazy to make toilet paper out of anything but recycled paper. But why even use it, when there are far more hi-tech ways to do the same job?

NYT: “Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests”