Posted on 07/06/2019 8:03:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Toilet paper – the one product that the majority of us use just once and flush away – is becoming less sustainable, according to research.
Analysis from Ethical Consumer magazine found that major brands were using less recycled paper than in 2011, while only five of the nine major supermarkets (the Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose) offered own-brand recycled toilet paper. The large-scale use of virgin paper contributes to unnecessary deforestation.
The UK uses 1.3m tonnes of tissue a year, according to the Confederation of Paper Industries, with the average British consumer reportedly getting through 127 rolls every year. But the growing trend for “luxury” four-ply and quilted toilet roll is fuelling the use of virgin pulp in an effort to create the softest product, the study claims.
“There is no need to cut down forests to make toilet roll, yet this is precisely what is happening,” said Alex Crumbie, a researcher for Ethical Consumer. “With consumer attention focused on plastic, some of the big brands have slowed and even reversed their use of recycled paper in the toilet rolls they make.”
The study singles out Kimberly-Clark, one of the biggest suppliers of toilet tissue worldwide. The proportion of recycled wood pulp used by the company has fallen over the years. In 2011, just under 30% of the total fibre used was recycled, but by 2017 this figure had fallen to 23.5%. Its popular Andrex brand used to offer a recycled/bamboo range but this was discontinued in 2015.
A 2017 Greenpeace report warned that large parts of Sweden’s Great Northern Forest, and the biodiversity contained within it, were under threat from the timber industry’s growing demand for virgin wood.
The new research flags to consumers that the chemicals used in the production of recycled paper are far less toxic
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
oh yay- ban on toilet paper- so every street in every city and town can look like LA
250 years old. I have cut trees myself that I counted the rings at over 250 years old.
They were so nasty that they couldnt be used for anything but pulpwood. Way past their prime.
Marquette Range Northern Red Oak.
[[I’d like to meet these people who use toilet paper over and over.]]
Some of them are foreign chefs and waiters-
I hope they mean toilet paper produced from other non-toilet paper sources.
oh wait- i meant some foreign chefs and waiters don’t use any toilet paper- dude in Cali who ran a restaurant was busted for it- fecal matter was found in the food if i remember correctly-
Nonsense, just switch to hemp paper from pulp paper.
Hemp paper is soft and silky, and in a production of scale is a lot cheaper than pulp paper. Plus, it means that wood can instead be used for higher value products, like lumber.
Indians too
Indians too
Yep. And bidets.
Break out the corn cobs.
FFS, it LITERALLY GROWS IN TREES, YOU IDIOTS!
Today in the USA are more forests than when the white man landed on this continent. This is due to “managed forestry” by companies that do this for profit. I do not see a problem.
We have more forests today because we put out forest fires. This did not happen 200 years ago! The forests just burned until the fires were finished by nature.
TMI! You could have limited your post to the following, and we would have gotten ALL the info we needed:
“About a year ago I finally installed a bidet on one of my toilets for about $100. WONDER, JOY, AND GLORY it solved most of my intimate cleansing problem, eliminated all my use of toilet paper...” I
Learn to edit. Please. FReegards. ;)
as a former sales rep of the world's best wood pulp for tissue (from Canadian black spruce), I can assure the writer that forests are re-planted.
The forests are owned by the province (in Canada) and leased to companies for management. There are very strict rules for forest management by the province and by organizations like FSC and SFI that set sustainabiliy standards. Abuse those and loose your lease.
THe other thing the province does is specify how much can be cut per year. That also includes too little cut (reduces revenue from the land). Again, a license/lease can be lost if not managed well.
My wife in 2 days. Me? About 7 days
“So.....Forget toilet paper....
Get yourself a bidet..... “
Or if we wait long enough, the Muslim “takover” will mandate wiping our butts with our own hand!
“Moral of the story: if you want to get really clean and drastically reduce TP use get a bidet. BTW I’m a man and this applies as well, or better, to most women.”
Very true! We’ve had one in every home we’ve owned. You are never “clean” unless you wash yourself. And the Japanese are way ahead of the game with bidet/toilets. I’ve seen and used their offerings and they have what amounts to a hand held calculator to manage all the device’s “functions,” including the “target acquisition system.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.