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ORGANIC LIFE
A
ncient Romans used a communal sponge on a
stick. Aussies and Brits used to hang squares of
the newspaper in the dunny. Most of the world
makes do with water. But today, Australians get through
an estimated 88 rolls of toilet paper per person per year.[1]
That’s less than the world’s most enthusiastic wipers,
the Americans, who use on average 141 rolls each a year,
but it’s still a lot of paper getting flushed away. Where
does it all come from? And are trees getting a bum deal?
Recent reports from overseas have highlighted the
damage that the production of toilet paper can do to the
world’s forests. In North America, the use of virgin pulp
in toilet paper is causing degradation of the Canadian
boreal forests, according to The Issue with Tissue, a 2019
report by the US-based environmental organisation,
the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Trees are being turned into toilet paper through an
energy-intensive and water-intensive chemical process,
and this ‘tree-to-toilet pipeline’ is causing harm toindigenous people, wildlife and the planet’s capacity to
store carbon, the report says.
The Swedish boreal is also being degraded, according
to a Greenpeace report,[2] and in the UK, toilet paper is
becoming less sustainable due to increasing demand for
luxury paper made from virgin wood pulp, according
to a report in Ethical Consumer magazine.[3]
But what about here in Australia? Walk down the
toilet paper aisle in a supermarket and you will be faced
with plenty of those softer-than-soft options. Luxury
four-ply, triple-length three-ply, silky soft king size...
Making a decision can be time-consuming (you
wouldn’t want to be desperate to get to the loo).
If you search hard enough, you should be able to find
some recycled toilet paper. But there won’t be a lot of it.
“Only around 3 per cent of toilet paper sales are
recycled”, says Ryan Collins, head of sustainable
resource programs at Planet Ark. “And that hasn’t
changed much in recent years.”Simon Webster explores the environmental
costs of toilet paper, why so few of us buy
recycled, and searches for the best options.On a
roll
PHOTO: ALAMY