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When the federal and provincial governments started to announce pandemic-related shutdowns in March, the first things that crossed my mind were the safety of my aging parents, and whether I could keep my job, work from home and provide childcare at the same time. It was shocking to watch how many news reports and Facebook posts were dedicated to… toilet paper. To be frank, as an avid outdoors person, I’ve never considered toilet paper to be in my top 10 survival needs. However, as someone who is committed to reducing consumption and waste and interested in what motivates people to make these changes, I was struck by the absolute panic that running out of toilet paper caused for so many people.
I admit toilet paper has actually been on my mind for a long time. I’ve been very concerned about what single use / disposable paper products mean for our forests and the wildlife that inhabit those forests. We know that industrial logging disrupts many species, including vulnerable and declining species, and that single use products increase our carbon footprint.
To be clear, I think toilet paper should be disposable, but for as long as I can remember, I have always bought 100% recycled options. As an advocate for the protection of forest habitats, I can’t imagine logging previously undeveloped forests to wipe my behind. However, I was stumped trying to source recycled toilet paper that was not also wrapped in plastic packaging. After some investigation, I did find a local Thunder Bay provider that sells bulk rolls of toilet paper distributed in large, cardboard boxes. But when I asked if I could purchase “recycled” toilet paper this way, I was told that would be “unsanitary”. We shared a good laugh when I explained that recycled toilet paper isn’t actually made from previously used toilet paper, but it did drive home the need for increasing awareness. If toilet paper providers aren’t informed about the options, how can we expect consumers to be?
Tissue, including toilet paper, is the fastest-growing area of production in the paper industry. Between 2010 and 2015, tissue production increased by 3.5% annually, and is expect to grow by almost 6% per year in the coming years. In 2018, global tissue consumption reached 38.7 million tonnes and is approaching the benchmark of 40 million tonnes this year. For reference, in 1993, the market was only 15.5 million tonnes. Per capita, Canadians and Americans are huge consumers when compared to the rest of the world (see graph below).
Given the deluge of toilet paper advertisements that promote soft, fluffy kittens or joyful, friendly bears, we have clearly been convinced to put a premium on having “only the best” for our bottoms. One industry webpage goes as far as to warn of “poor performance” and “malfunctions” happening with recycled toilet paper leading to “an unpleasant restroom experience” that could “pose a threat to individuals such as young children”. To spare us those horrors, most tissue relies on so-called “virgin” wood fiber, whereby a harvested tree is the typical source, and consumer demand for recycled options has been stifled.
I can assure readers that I have experienced nothing but normal bathroom encounters and my recycled toilet paper is “performing” just fine. Yet many of the leading tissue companies in the United States stubbornly continue to support industrial logging in primary forests for their flagship at-home tissue products. While some have made advances in their away-from-home tissue brands that are sold to businesses, airports, and other establishments, the three companies with the largest market shares in the tissue sector, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Georgia-Pacific, still rely almost exclusively on virgin pulp for their U.S. tissue brands. A significant portion of that pulp is logged in Ontario forests.
At a time when we are facing dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, we need to shift our consumption to more recycled products.
Northern leopard frog © Jozsef Szasz-Fabian
Thanks, it’s a great thing that this article suggested the importance of toilet paper.
Hi Julee,
I just signed your petition to P&G and found your article informative and persuasive. Thank you for writing this piece.
Allow me to offer a solution to the toilet paper issue that comes from outside of the North American echo chamber. Specifically, South and South-East Asia (and, to some extent, Europe).
I refer to the timeless, proven and paper-free practise of cleaning oneself with water. *Gasp*, right?
When I first travelled to India in 1994, my Indian-Canadian friend warned me about the lack of Western toilet facilities and toilet paper. She said I had two options: load down my travel pack with toilet paper (and leave a trail of dirty litter everywhere), or learn the Indian way of cleaning oneself with plenty of water and one’s left hand (this is why Indians only ever pick up food with their right hand!). I chose the latter and have never ‘looked back’.
I know your readers and most Canadians will recoil at the very idea. Yet the water method has huge advantages and very few disadvantages. So if you don’t mind, let me describe.
Instead of wasting tons of toilet paper, clogging municipal sewers with it and destroying more forests every year (not to mention queueing and hoarding during pandemics), Canadians could easily leave behind ‘that whole mess’ by replacing toilet paper with a bucket of clean tap water conveniently placed near the toilet bowl.
1. With the right hand, you dip a plastic bowl or cup (or any container) into the bucket and fill it with water.
2. You bring the container of water behind you and tip it towards your butt, creating a small waterfall.
3. With your left hand, you direct the falling water to thoroughly clean yourself. à
4. Depending on the size of the container and your skill level (this may take a few days of practise to get right), you may want to repeat until you feel totally clean.
5. Once you have finished, you grab a cloth (any soft cloth) that you keep nearby to dab yourself dry.
6. Proceed to the sink to wash your hands with soap and water — which you would do anyway, right? Especially in these pandemic times.
Voilà — zero toilet paper. No line-ups ever again to buy the infernal stuff. And a clean, clean butt.
Let me stress this point: CLEAN is what you will be — much, much cleaner than paper could ever achieve. After all, paper only smears things around. Only water truly cleans.
If Canadians could only adopt this practise which used to exist everywhere before the advent of commercially produced toilet paper (think of the French bidet as a more sophisticated version of this water method, and of course Japanese automated toilets equipped with multiple water nozzles), the demand for paper would literally go down the toilet.
We are a nation addicted to the idea that toilet paper is hygienic, when in fact it will always be a dirty and wasteful practise.
Just a thought 🙂
Regards,
Norman Liu
Norman, thank you for providing your insight. We agree that if we are going to transition to a sustainable world, we need to keep an open mind and be willing to change long-held beliefs, in particular, by examining practices across cultures
ON Julee
As the Founder of THE BRUCE TRAIL I committed 80% of my estate to protecting the natural environment . I am deeply concerned by your irresponsible actions.
Philip Gosling C.M. Chair The Gosling Foundation.
Thank you, Philip, for lending your voice on this issue and your ongoing support for conservation in Ontario.
ON Julee
Hi, Julee, first of all, I am 100% behind you on this action and I’ve signed the letter. However, can I please ask that you always cite your sources even if it is a blog post? I am not clear on the source of Figure 1 and don’t know how reliable this information is. Thank you!
Nataliya, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We try to cite the key facts by highlighting the text in orange and providing a link within our blog. We will also add a link to the Figure. The source of the graph we used is: at https://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/departments/marketissues/global-average-per-capita-tissue-consumption-stands-at-above-5kg-but-10kg-is-possible/. However, there are many reports available that show the same per capita trend (e.g., https://environmentalpaper.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/StateOfTheGlobalPaperIndustry2018_FullReport-Final-1.pdf and https://www.statista.com/statistics/698247/tissue-consumption-worldwide-by-region/#:~:text=Per%20capita%20consumption%20of%20tissue%20worldwide%20in%202018%2C%20by%20region&text=In%202018%2C%20an%20average%20of,was%205.2%20kilograms%20that%20year.)
ON Julee