In this age of climate change discussions, surveys on toilet paper use have become relevant. This is because some of the most popular brands of toilet paper are adding to deforestation and, as a result, climate change.
In a new poll, the findings showed that the US citizens use more tissue paper compared to other peoples of the world.
With the U.S. topping all other countries in its annual per capita usage of toilet paper rolls, according to 2018 data — 141 (three per week, or 28 pounds’ worth) as compared with 134 rolls in Germany, 127 in the United Kingdom, 91 in Japan and only 38 in Brazil, for example — it’s crucial to know where all that tissue is coming from.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the latest version of its annual “Issue with Tissue” report and scorecard, some major companies are fueling climate change by using virgin forest fiber from Canada’s vast and vital boreal forest — one of the most ecologically important forests on Earth — to make the disposable product.
“I think the vast majority of consumers don’t give their toilet paper purchase a lot of thought, because it’s pretty unbelievable that it’s fueling such devastating forest loss — something you use for a few seconds and then flush,” NRDC’s boreal protection campaign manager, Shelley Vinyard, tells Yahoo Life. “So we aim to just educate people, especially about the world’s last remaining climate-critical forest, so they know the impacts of their purchasing decisions.”
While the trend in toilet paper manufacturing has been that “more and more companies are offering more sustainable brands,” with even Kimberly Clark and Georgia-Pacific making versions of its products from 100% recycled paper, “we’re looking at Procter & Gamble (P&G),” this year’s worst offender, “specifically, to do that,” Vinyard explains.
P&G, maker of three types of Charmin, “remains stuck in the past,” relying on the boreal forest, says Ashley Jordan, lead author for the NRDC toilet paper scorecard, released in September, which looked at 142 products, using a deep-diving methodology. As a result,”P&G is now the only one of the three largest toilet paper producers to earn F grades across all its tissue brands.” (Kimberly Clark and Georgia-Pacific are not far behind, with their Cottonelle, Angel Soft and Quilted Northern products getting Fs, too — along with Scott and Walmart brands.)
As Jordan tells Yahoo Life, “This is our fourth version of the scorecard, and it’s changed over time — there are more sustainable brands each year than the previous one. But the largest U.S. tissue brands are continuing to create their products almost exclusively from virgin forest fiber.”
Toilet paper 101
Hands down, the most sustainable type of TP to buy is one made from 100% recycled content, with “at least 50% post-consumer recycled content,” notes the NRDC.
