Toilet Paper

Introduction

Globally, we cut down nearly 10 million trees per year just for toilet paper. This in turn puts many species at risk, as well as our water cycle.

The Issue with Tissue - Is your toilet paper made from Old Growth Forests?

6:15 minute video showing how beautiful, old-growth forests are being turned into single-use toilet paper.

Harms of Toilet Paper

Deforestation

Toilet paper is a major source of deforestation (demand for wood and paper products is the 4th largest driver of deforestation), in particular the USA's demand for toilet paper is destroying Canada's old-growth boreal forests.

"Despite making up only 4% of the world’s population, Americans account for close to 20% of the world’s toilet paper consumption." The same source explains, "between 1996 and 2015 more than 28 million acres of the boreal forest were logged, which is nearly equivalent to the state of Ohio. Even worse, 90% of this logging was done by clearcutting, a process that removes nearly all trees from an area. These clear-cut areas can take more than a century to return to pre-logging conditions."

"Tissue paper companies also heavily impact other regions in North America. The southeastern United States has and continues to be, overly decimated. The region from Appalachia to the Florida Panhandle supplies approximately 27% of the world’s paper products. Even more frightening, the harvesting in this region occurs at four times the rate of South American rainforests."

Scroll down to the Resources section on this page to see more score cards and related information.

Toilet Paper vs Water Security

Trees use quite a lot of water to grow. The oil industry uses a crazy amount of water to make fuel that powers deforestation equipment, factory processing, and transit of products to consumers. The plastic packing also requires a significant amount of water. If you have ever made paper at home from recycled pulp, you'll remember that the process uses quite a lot of water compared to how much paper you end up with, and toilet paper factories have the same issue. On top of that bleach is used to make paper white, which means dangerous chemicals can end up in our water ways and drinking supplies. A bidet uses 1/8th of a gallon per splash instead of the 37 gallons of water it takes to produce a single roll of toilet paper (that's equal to a glass of wine, a cup of coffee, or about 1.5 salads).

Deforestation & Water Cycle Disruption

Trees enhance our planet's water cycle by helping rain penetrate the ground with their roots into our aquifers for later use, and by sucking up water through their stomata which helps fuel more rain clouds.

Trees help drive healthy weather patterns, clean our water, and even help prevent flooding. 

Dangerous Chemicals 

Chemicals including formaldehyde which causes cancer, bleach, and petroleum-based "mineral oil" have been found to cause infections, cancer, skin reactions, and burning have been found lurking in standard toilet papers. - Prevention

Emissions

Emissions are created to make and ship bidets, plus a small amount to extract and treat water. However emissions to cut down tons of trees and make packaging for TP rolls every day has a much higher emissions cost vs using a bidet, bidet attachment or similar device.

Species Threatened by Toilet Paper Harvesting

Birds

Eagles

Hawks

Owls

Hummingbirds

Fish

Salmon 

Every year salmon swim up river to spawn, but as our climate grows hotter rivers are too. This trend becomes even more dangerous as deforestation means these rivers suffer from greater run off pollution and lack of shade raised the water temperature enough to cook the fish alive.

Planting, or better yet preserving, riparian zones is the best way to avoid this problem.

Lichens

Mammals

Hoofed Animals

Animals including moose, wood bison, as well as various types of elk and deer all lose habitat due to deforestation.

Predators

Squirrels & Flying Squirrels

Plants

In addition to trees, many of the plants that grow on trees, or in their understory are also destroyed by the forestry industry.

Bidets & Other TP Alternatives

Alternatives to Toilet Paper

This section is organized (to the best of our ability) from greatest impact, to less impactful changes. Home-grown toilet papers (plants) are listed last because we haven't assessed their impact. Growing plants in your garden should have less impact than manufacturing and shipping toilet paper, however the benefits might be negated if invasive species are introduced to a new area.

Bidets & Bidet Attachments

"The most environmentally friendly alternative to traditional toilet paper is bidets. A bidet uses about an eighth of a gallon of water per use. ... If you use a bidet instead of toilet paper, you will save around 384 trees, which is the number of trees cut down to supply one person’s lifetime toilet paper supply." - https://hellotushy.com/blogs/the-posterior/toilet-paper-bad-for-the-environment 

Types of Toilet Paper

This section explores alternative manufactured toilet papers that are supposed to have less impact on the environment than standard tree-pulp-only toilet papers.

Bamboo

Bamboo is estimated to use 30% less water to grow than trees, and bamboo can be farmed sustainably without pesticides of fertilizers.

Recycled Toilet Paper

Recycled toilet paper only has an estimated 1/3rd of the ecological impact toilet made directly from trees has on the planet.

Dangers of Recycled Paper

Because it's hard to control what's in recycled materials, BPA can be lurking in your recycled TP. - Prevention

Wheat Straw Toilet Paper

These should be safe for people with Celiacs or wheat allergies, but we are still looking into this. The brands we found information about indicate that these toilet papers are only 20% wheat, with tree pulp used for the other 80%.

Leaves You Can Grow & Wipe With

Be very careful not to introduce invasive weeds! This along may counteract any benefits of home-grown plants as they can outcompete local plants, even causing a trophic cascade or local extinction event.

The best plants are native plants that grow in your region, and the second best are plants that won't outcompete your local natives.

- DavesGarden

It's extremely important to properly identify plants before using them for topical, medicinal, or nutritional purposes. 

You can take foraging classes with a local expert, use online or book guides, even apps like iNaturalist which simultaneously help researchers and conservation organizations around the world.

Broadleaf Plantain

This plant is native to Europe and Asia.

"The common garden weed called plantain has edible leaves and seeds. It may offer health benefits, such as improved digestion, enhanced wound healing, and lower inflammation." 

...

"If you harvest plantain weed from your yard, try to avoid plants that have been treated with pesticides, are growing near the road, or are located in areas frequented by pets. " - What Is Plantain Weed, and How Do You Use It?

Cottonwood Tree

This tree grows in riparian areas and is among the least shade tolerant trees of North America, growing from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico.

Curly Doc

"There are many edible docks, but curly dock and broad-leaved dock are the most common weeds in the USA and Europe. Other edible docks include R. occidentalis (western dock), R. longifolius (yard dock), and R. stenphyllus (field dock). R. hymenosepalus (wild rhubarb) is common in the desert Southwest and is larger and more succulent than many other docks. It has been a traditional food and dye source for several Native American tribes..." - Backyard Forager

Great Mullein or Cowboy Toilet Paper

"Verbascum thapsus, the great mullein, greater mullein or common mullein, is a species of mullein native to Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, and introduced in the Americas and Australia.[1]" - Wikipedia: Verbascum thapsus 

"The unique name for this plant comes from its occasional use as a toilet paper replacement. Leaves are covered in woolly hairs that make the leaf quite soft. If used as toilet paper, it is important to get fresh leaves rather than old, dry leaves as these will crumble during use. In addition to its use during emergencies and lockdown-induced toilet paper shortages, this plant has traditionally been used medicinally for a number of illnesses." - NC Cooperative Extension: Cowboys Toilet Paper

Lamb's Ear

"Lamb's ear is a native to the rocky hills of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. 

The genus name, Stachys, is Greek and comes from a word meaning "ear of corn." The epithet, byzantine, means "of classical Byzantine."

Lamb's ear grows well in average, dry to medium, very well-drained soils in full sun to partial shade. Avoid overwatering as wet leaves invite disease, as do high humidity summers. The plant likes some afternoon shade, particularly in the hot summer. It spreads by stems rooting at the nodes and can be aggressive in good conditions. Division of the plant may be required about every 2 to 4 years. The plant is deer resistant and moderately drought tolerant once established."

"The soft, fuzzy leaves make an excellent addition to a children's or sensory garden.  Plant it along a border front or walkway, or it may also be grown in containers. Consider planting Lamb's ear on a hill or slope in hot humid areas to prevent root rot." - North Carolina State Extension: Stachys Byzantina

Resources

Toilet Paper Ratings