Luxury Toilet Paper a Threat to the Environment?

Friday, February 19, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: toilet paper, environment, health news

(NaturalNews) Environmentalists are increasingly calling attention to an often overlooked threat to the world's forests and climate: the U.S. preference for toilet paper that is as soft as possible.

While toilet paper made from recycled fibers makes up 75 percent of the U.S. "away from home" market (places like restaurants and schools) and large sections of the "at home" market in other countries, only 5 percent of the toilet paper purchased for home use in the United States contains 100 percent recycled paper. This means that a full 95 percent of toilet paper used in U.S. homes is made from trees that were cut especially for that purpose.

This paper comes overwhelmingly either from tree farms -- which displace natural habitat and pose many of the same environmental problems as any big agribusiness -- or from old-growth forests in the north of Canada.

"The problem is not yet getting better," said Chris Henschel, of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. "It's unbelievable that this global treasure of Canadian boreal forests is being turned into toilet paper. . . . I think every reasonable person would have trouble understanding how that would be okay."

In addition to providing critical habitats, the Canadian boreal forests are also an important "carbon sink," removing fossil fuels from the atmosphere.

Because the natural fibers in virgin wood pulp are longer than those in recycled pulp, they are capable of creating a softer web.

Some paper manufacturers have joined environmentalists in trying to get U.S. consumers to open up to recycled toilet paper. So far, it appears to be an uphill battle. Georgia-Pacific made more than $144 million in 2008 selling more than 24 million packs of its "Quilted Northern Ultra Plush" three-ply toilet paper.

"At what price softness?" said Tim Spring of paper company Marcal Manufacturing. "Should I contribute to clear-cutting and deforestation because the big [marketing] machine has told me that softness is important?

"You're not giving up the world here."

Sources for this story include: www.washingtonpost.com.