Every year around the world, we flush nearly 15 million trees-worth of toilet paper down our drains. If you’re yet to consider the impact of taking ten minutes out on the throne, it’s time to make the switch to recycled toilet paper and help wipe up a wasteful mess.
In America alone, 34 million rolls of toilet paper are used every single day – that’s 36.5 billion rolls every year. Beyond the single-use impact of only being used once, manufacturing 36.5 billion rolls is a resource-thirsty process too – nearly 1.8 trillion litres of water and 250,000 tonnes of chlorine are used to bleach those rolls, and they're all dumped down the drain with America’s daily duties.
The worst part about all this toilet trivia? 70% of the world’s population doesn’t even use toilet paper (due to poverty in most countries, and bidets in others), so those of us who do use it daily, are using much more than our fair share. Our desire for virgin-pulp toilet paper and bleached-white wonder on our bums is creating a shit storm of waste in really poo-ey proportions.
I’m not suggesting you switch to a rag on a stick or head out in the back yard with a hose, but switching to recycled toilet paper is a sustainable start. Recycled toilet paper is an eco-friendly alternative to bleached virgin-pulp paper, and the production of recycled toilet paper uses 90% less water than its dirty forest-destroying counterpart too.
Sustainable and change-driven brands like Who Gives A Crap have a double-whammy impact; you’ll save forests with every wipe, and if you’re creative with your wrappers, you can cut down your consumption of notepaper too. I’m a list-maker, and there’s nothing more satisfying than ticking off my to-do’s but using new paper every day is unsustainable and wasteful.
News flash, paper comes from trees, and it accounts for nearly 25% of total waste in landfill every year. Considering 10 litres of water are used to make just one piece of virgin-pulp bleached A4 paper – we are throwing our fresh air away with every piece.
I reuse my Who Gives A Crap wrappers in the office every day, and it’s a sustainable way to reduce, reuse and recycle. Save paper and have a positive impact by unwrapping your rolls, giving the wrappers a quick iron to flatten them out, and start scribbling way – simple.
Learn more about the positive impact of recycled toilet paper at whogivesacrap.org.
Claire x
