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ORGANIC LIFE
Recycled benefits
Before we go any further, let’s clear something up:
recycled toilet paper is not made from old toilet paper;
it’s made from offi ce paper.
“It uses up to 50 per cent less energy and 90 per cent
less water than using virgin materials,” Collins says. It
also produces fewer air pollutants and sulphur dioxide,
and uses little or no chlorine bleach, says the NRDC.
However, the vast majority of Australia’s locally
produced tissue is made out of imported virgin pulp from
plantations in Canada, Brazil and Chile. It may be some
consolation that most have been certifi ed by independent
third parties such as the Program for Endorsement of
Forest Certifi cation schemes, Responsible Wood and the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), according to paper
and forestry market analyst IndustryEdge. But, although
Planet Ark supports these schemes, it insists that recycled
toilet paper should still be the consumer’s No.1 choice.
Non-recycled toilet paper with a certifi cation logo such
as one from FSC is a second-best option, Planet Ark says.Paper alternatives
Recycled toilet paper brands in Australia include icare,
Naturale (endorsed by Planet Ark) and Safe, and the
market disruptor, Who Gives a Crap.
Other manufacturers of toilet paper using alternative
materials include No Issues (bamboo) and Pure Planet,
which combines bamboo with recycled sugarcane waste
material. Both are proudly tree-free.On a side note, some of these brands such as Safe, Who
Gives a Crap and Pure Planet, use paper rather than
plastic packaging – a bonus if you are going plastic free.
Who Gives a Crap was launched through a crowd-
funding campaign in 2012 and donates 50 per cent of its
profi ts towards building toilets in the developing world. So
far the company has handed over more than $1.8 million.
“Our mission is to be able to provide everyone in the
world access to a toilet,” says Jas Miranda, from Who Gives
a Crap. “With 2.3 billion living without one, there’s a huge
opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.”
The company offers recycled and bamboo options.
“Our recycled toilet paper is the more environmentally
friendly choice because there is a lower energy conversion
process,” Miranda says. “To make bamboo toilet paper,
we fi rst need to turn the bamboo into a pulp. Recycled
paper is already paper. So there is one less step to
transform the fi bres.”
However, bamboo is still a sustainable choice, Miranda
says. “It grows super fast and is easily renewable. It also
uses far less land than trees and produces less particulate
matter and CO2 emissions per tonne of paper produced.
It requires no tending, irrigation or fertilisation and only
needs to be harvested once a year.”REFERENCES- Statista Consumer Market Outlook, 2018
- Wiping Away the Boreal, 2017
- ethicalconsumer.org/home-garden/shopping-guide/toilet-paper
Top left: Who Gives a Crap offers toilet tissue
made from recycled paper or bamboo.
Left: Pure Planet used renewable bamboo and
sugarcanetomakeitstoiletpaper.Bid t t b t?
So what will it be? Certified forestry, recycled or
bamboo? Rather than arguing about how we produce our
toilet paper, maybe we should be giving it up altogether.
Some people swear by using pieces of cloth and
washing them. It’s no different to using a cloth nappy for
a baby, they say. Others have gone further, growing their
own loofah (Luffa cylindrica) and using the sponges in
place of paper.
Perhaps more likely to catch on are bidets, which use
jets of water to clean your nether regions. Widespread
in parts of Europe, South America and Japan, bidets
range from simple attachments for an existing toilet,
to luxury options that heat your seat, give you a blast
of warm air to dry you off and even play your favourite
music to keep you entertained. Take Me to the River
perhaps? Mellow Yellow? Smoke on the Water? Islands
in the Stream? If nothing else, you would have a lot
of fun making a playlist. If you are worried about the
extra water use, it is negligible compared to the water
used in making toilet paper.