WHY YOU SHOULD BUY RECYCLED TOILET PAPER
Toilet paper is one of those products that we buy to throw out. We use it for seconds, and then flush it away. The tragic irony of this highly disposable product is that it is made from forests that have existed for hundreds of years and play a crucial role in the fight against climate change.
We use a lot of toilet paper. While Americans make up just over 4% of the world’s population, we account for more than 20% of global toilet paper consumption, using 36.5 billion rolls per year. We are also notoriously picky about our toilet paper, preferring the ultra-soft, quilted, cushiony, pillowy, ripply, multi-ply variety.
Toilet paper is made from trees, largely from Canada’s majestic boreal forest. Our 36.5 billion rolls per year represent the logging and pulping of some 15 million trees. Most of this toilet paper, and particularly the super-soft toilet paper we tend to prefer, comes from so-called “virgin fibers” from old-growth trees in the portion of the boreal forest within Canada’s borders. Canada’s boreal forest is the largest intact forest in the world, and is immensely important for several reasons.
First, the boreal forest is critical in the fight against climate change. This is because it absorbs and stores a massive amount of carbon dioxide, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. In fact, the boreal forest is the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet, holding a staggering 12 percent of the world’s land-based carbon stock (306.6 billion metric tons). That’s the equivalent of more than 36 years of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Per acre, it holds nearly twice as much carbon as the Amazon rainforest. This carbon is “locked up” in the forest, and absent human intervention, it would stay there.
However, when the boreal forest is logged for wood (including the wood pulp used to make our toilet paper), that carbon is released into the atmosphere, fueling global warming and climate change. Each year, logging the Canadian boreal generates an estimated 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions—an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 5.5 million vehicles.
Not only does logging release the boreal’s stored carbon into the atmosphere, it also diminishes the forest’s future ability to absorb carbon from the environment. Currently, the boreal’s trees and plants annually remove an estimated 113.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the emissions of 24 million vehicles. When we log the boreal, we are destroying one of our most critical weapons in the fight against climate change.
Second, the Canadian boreal forest is home to thousands of animal species, which are threatened by logging. Habitat loss from logging has endangered or threatened many of these species, including such iconic species as the woodland caribou, grizzly bear, and wolverine. The impact on boreal species worldwide has been even more devastating, with up to a million plants and animals facing extinction due primarily to habitat loss from logging.
Third, it is also home to over 600 Indigenous communities, who have been displaced by logging activities. These communities sometimes have no influence over (and receive no benefit from) the logging activities that degrade their ancestral homes.
More than a million acres of boreal forest are destroyed each year by industrial logging for paper products. Despite the boreal forest’s importance, less than 12% is formally protected around the globe, exposing the vast majority of it to clearcut logging for paper products. Since 1996, more than 28 million acres of Canada’s boreal forest have been logged. Clearcut forests can take more than a century to return to their pre-logging condition, and some never do.
What can you do to help? This is a big problem with a rather easy solution: buy 100% recycled toilet paper. Using toilet paper made with 100% recycled content instead of virgin fiber has huge benefits for forests and the global climate. Recycled toilet paper has one-third the carbon footprint of that made from 100% virgin fiber and produces less waste that would otherwise go to a landfill. Making recycled toilet paper also requires far less water than making toilet paper from virgin fibers (which requires about 474 billion gallons annually).
Unfortunately, most of the leading toilet paper brands use 0% recycled fibers in their products, so you’ll have to look beyond mainstays like Charmin, Quilted Northern, and Cottonelle.
For a planet-friendly bonus, look for 100% recycled toilet paper with a high percentage of post-consumer recycled material. Post-consumer recycled material comes from the paper we throw into the recycling bin. This is in contrast to pre-consumer recycled material, which is waste created during the manufacture of paper. Both are far more sustainable than virgin fiber, but post-consumer recycled material is preferable because it reduces waste and helps create more demand for recycled materials. How can you tell how much post-consumer recycled material is in your toilet paper? Most packaging states the percentage used.
For example, this product states that it is 100% recycled and uses 80% post-consumer recycled material. This is a very eco-friendly option!
Recycled toilet paper is not only better for the environment; it may also be better for your health. Many toilet paper brands use polluting chlorine-based bleach to make the wood pulp white. The chemicals used to whiten recycled fibers are often far less toxic than those used to bleach virgin fibers. And when we’re talking about something you put on your nether regions, “less toxic” is better, right?
The 2020 NRDC scorecard has done the work for you: its “A” rated products are all 100% recycled. Good news: the National Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”) has already identified many of the most eco-friendly toilet paper brands in this scorecard for tissue products. To devise its rankings, the NRDC looked at factors like the percentage of post-consumer recycled content, whether the virgin fiber is from FSC-certified forests (more on what that means below), and whether any bleaching process is used. According to the NRDC, these criteria “correlate most directly with the overall environmental impact and carbon footprint of each product scored.”
Eleven toilet paper brands earned an “A” rating on the NRDC’s scorecard. They are all made from 100% recycled fibers, with varying but generally high degrees of post-consumer recycled content. Here they are, in order of eco-friendliness:
Who Gives a Crap 100% Recycled
Green Forest
365 Everyday Value, 100% Recycled
Natural Value
Seventh Generation Unbleached Recycled Bath Tissue
Trader Joe’s Bath Tissue (but NOT Trader Joe’s Super Soft Bath Tissue, which earned a “D”)
Marcal 1000 1-Ply
Marcal 100% Recycled 2-Ply
Everspring (Target’s new eco-friendly brand)
Seventh Generation Extra Soft & Strong
GreenWise
Give one of these a try! We did, and we’ve made the permanent switch to Who Gives a Crap 100% Recycled (more on that below).
Of the eco-friendly brands that earned an “A” on the NRDC scorecard, G and I liked Who Gives a Crap the best. We tried most of the brands with an “A” rating that had 80%+ post-consumer recycled material. (We had trouble procuring them all during the pandemic, otherwise we would have tried them all.) We conducted a blind test, evaluating for softness and effectiveness. Based on these criteria, we both liked Who Gives a Crap 100% Recycled the best. It was the softest (or a toss-up for softest) and most effective of the bunch (perhaps because it was the only three-ply).
While we were committed to the integrity of our review, and would have reported the results accurately however they turned out, I was thrilled to love Who Gives a Crap, as it also clearly seems like the most eco-friendly option. First, it was delivered to my home in bulk (48 rolls for $48 and free shipping), with no plastic packaging whatsoever. That’s the toilet paper equivalent of a unicorn! Second, it’s 100% recycled with 95% post-consumer recycled content. Wow! Third, it doesn’t contain inks, dyes, or scents (which is evident from its slightly gray color, see picture below). Better for your bottom and the planet! And best of all, they donate 50% of their profits to help build toilets for those in need. Amazing!
Who Gives a Crap 100% Recycled (left) is slightly grayer than other 100% recycled brands (e.g., right), likely owing to less bleaching/dyeing.
Who Gives a Crap was a little more expensive than some of the other brands we tried, at $1 per roll, but definitely not so much as to dissuade us from making the switch.
In our experience, 100% recycled toilet paper is pretty much equivalent to the very best non-eco-friendly toilet paper. As part of our study, we also compared our favorite eco-friendly toilet paper with the ultra-soft non-eco-friendly toilet paper touted as “the best” by Wirecutter: Cottonelle Ultra ComfortCare. Cottonelle uses 0% recycled content.
In all honesty: we both preferred the Cottonelle (which was historically our TP of choice). But we were both surprised by how very slight the preference was; we agreed that if the Cottonelle was a 10 out of 10, then the Who Gives a Crap was an 8 out of 10. The Cottonelle is slightly softer and stronger, but 4 out of 5 times I couldn’t discern the difference.
Also, we don’t just use the softest possible materials for our toilet paper, otherwise we’d all be wiping with 100% silk or cashmere or something. We take practical and other considerations into account. We need to draw the line somewhere. And I’d suggest drawing it in a way that doesn’t involve deforestation of hundred-year-old trees, significant global warming, and species endangerment. An ever-so-slightly softer wipe just isn’t worth all that.
Toilet paper alternatives. I’ll briefly note that there are two potentially more sustainable alternatives even to 100% recycled toilet paper: bidets/washlets, and reusable toilet cloths (a set of washcloths that you use to wipe, then wash and reuse… yes, really). While I fully support use of either of these options, I don’t think they’re likely to gain traction in the US at this point in time. We’re far too captivated by flushable toilet paper, and that’s why my recommendation is to use 100% recycled toilet paper.
Some other questions you may have about buying eco-friendly toilet paper:
What does that FSC stamp mean? Some toilet paper packages bear a stamp that says “FSC” on them. “FSC” stands for Forest Stewardship Council, a forest certification group created in 1994 which certifies that paper products, including toilet paper, are produced from sustainably managed forests. Forests that desire FSC certification must comply with 10 principles and 57 criteria which are intended to protect forests and Indigenous rights.
There are actually three different FSC stamps, as shown below. By far the best one is “FSC Recycled” (left), which certifies the toilet paper is 100% recycled. If for some reason you can’t access 100% recycled toilet paper, “FSC 100%” (middle) is the next best choice, indicating that the toilet paper is entirely from FSC-certified, well-managed forests. “FSC Mix” (right) should only be purchased as a last resort, as it is not necessarily from FSC-certified forests. Most of the big-name brands like Cottonelle, Charmin, and Kirkland are “FSC Mix” certified, but are made from from 100% virgin forest fiber.
What about other certifications? There are other certifications you might see on your toilet paper. For example, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (“SFI”) also certifies forests and products. SFI-certified toilet paper is probably better than toilet paper with no recycled content or certification, but FSC certification is generally much more protective.
What about toilet paper that says it’s eco-friendly? In a similar vein, beware of products that claim to be “green,” “eco-friendly,” or “sustainable” without a high percentage of recycled content, or other specific supporting data. For example, Georgia-Pacific recently debuted Quilted Northern EcoComfort, which you might reasonably think (based on the name) was eco-friendly, but in reality has zero recycled content and is not certified by the FSC.
What about bamboo toilet paper? Some companies are manufacturing toilet paper from bamboo, a fast-growing crop that requires less land than traditional wood fiber. Bamboo tissue products produce 30% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than those made with 100% virgin forest fiber. However, growing bamboo can also cause environmental harm if not done sustainably, and none of the bamboo products have yet obtained FSC certification, so we can’t tell if they are sourced sustainably. Accordingly, while bamboo may be a good option in the future, my advice at this time is to buy 100% recycled toilet paper. UPDATE: A reader has informed me that her bamboo toilet paper of choice, Bippy, is FSC certified (evidenced by the preferred FSC 100 label). Based on this information, I recommend this brand.
So there’s your easy, planet-saving challenge for the week: buy a package of 100% recycled toilet paper and see what you think. Help cut the “tree-to-toilet” pipeline and save our forests!
Stay tuned for my planet-friendly tissue and paper towel recommendations! (And to get a jump on it, check out the NRDC’s 2020 tissue and paper towel scorecard.)