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Over the last few years, the number of brands of recycled toilet paper has risen steadily and has become more widely available. So there's no need to use toilet paper made from the virgin pulp of old growth forests.

Find it! Recycled toilet paper

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides a very useful Toilet Paper Guide, neatly charting data on different brands of toilet paper, particularly regarding the bleaching process, percent recycled, and the percent of toilet paper made from post-consumer waste. The group also makes note of which brands to avoid altogether.

Before you buy

Some people claim that recycled toilet paper brands are not as soft as non-recycled brands. If you're concerned about this, you can do a test yourself by buying a few different brands of recycled toilet paper and choosing the one that feels softest to you. Or ask yourself this question posed by a representative from the NRDC: "How soft do you need something to be that you use for five seconds a day?" Though rarely softer than non-recycled brands, recycled toilet paper comes in a close second. Maybe soft enough is good enough if it also means saving thousands of trees.

Also keep in mind that labels sporting the word "recycled" often contain only a fraction of post-consumer waste—typically as little as 10 percent.[1] In fact, the triangular recycling symbol is often meaningless, as it can be used on products that are recyclable, but don't contain any recycled content. So look for specific claims of post-consumer recycled content before plunking down your cash.

Choosing recycled toilet paper helps you go green because…

• About 424,000 trees would be spared by replacing a 500-sheet roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with a 100 percent recycled one in every household in the US.[2]

The WorldWatch Institute estimates that US toilet paper sales were $5.7 billion in 2005. The average per capita use of toilet paper in the US is 23.0 kilograms, or 50.7 pounds per year.[3] Some facial/bathroom tissue companies, such as Kimberly-Clarke (makers of the Kleenex brand) unsustainably harvest old growth forests to manufacture disposable paper products.

The production of virgin fiber bathroom tissue products is contributing to the destruction of vast tracts of forest lands (most of which are in Canada) that have existed for thousands of years. Yet, worldwide forest ecosystems are critical to maintaining life on Earth. They filter the air, stabilize climate by absorbing CO₂, and provide habitat for 90 percent of all land-dwelling plants and animals.[4]

Only 19 percent of paper pulp is from recycled content. Many companies, including Kimberly-Clarke, play up their use of virgin pulp, suggesting it produces softer paper products. Yet there is no evidence that these claims are true.

Another major problem with toilet paper is the way the pulp is processed. Chlorine dioxide is often used as a bleaching agent in toilet paper manufacturing. This process creates hundreds of chemicals that are released into the environment, including dioxin, a known carcinogen.

Glossary

• dioxin: Dioxins are extremely persistent chemical compounds that are created inadvertently by human activities like incineration and fuel combustion. Dioxins break down slowly so they persist in the environment for many years. Exposure to dioxins may cause adverse health effects, such as cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders, and skin disease.
• old growth forest: Also known as virgin forest, ancient forest, or primary forest, this is an area of forest which has attained great age, containing a variety of vertical layers of vegetation, including large live trees. These forests may also be home to many rare species that are dependent on these ecologically unique old growth features.
• post-consumer waste (PCW): Refers to recycled content that results from curb-side collection. For example, your recycled Sunday paper is considered PCW. Post-consumer waste is the most desirable content in a recycled product, since it creates a market for paper that has already been used and would otherwise end up in a landfill.
• post-consumer waste (PCW): Refers to paper scraps and trimmings that result from paper companies' manufacturing process. This is easiest to recycle because the scraps don't require any collection, sorting, or de-inking. However, it doesn't promote any consumer-based initiative related to recycling.

External links

• The Conservatree Guide to Environmentally Sound Tissue Papers
• Greenpeace - Kleercut Campaign
• National Resources Defense Council - A Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products
• Grist - On Recycled Toilet Paper: An Affinity That Chafes Our Ends
• MSNBC - Ready to rethink toilet paper for Earth Day?: Pros, cons of switching to recycled tissue—and a family’s personal tale
• Worldcentric - Post Consumer Waste, Chlorine Free Recycled Paper
• National Resources Defense Council - Paper Industry Laying Waste to North American Forests