A Low Carbon Life In The Bathroom

Consumables ….

Toilet Paper

Today I made an on-line purchase of 48 rolls of recycled toilet paper from an organization called Who Gives a Crap.  For quite a few years, we have used recycled and, if we can get it in combination, unbleached toilet paper but this organisation is just that bit better than the wholly commercial suppliers, because 50% of its profits go towards building toilets for people who don’t have access to sanitation.  They do this via WaterAid. 

Here is the low carbon living part of their spiel on their product,

“Firstly, recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy and 50 percent less water to produce; creates 74 percent less air pollution; saves 17 trees (per ton of paper produced); and creates five times more jobs than one ton of paper products made from virgin wood pulp.

Secondly, the equivalent of about 270,000 trees is either land filled or flushed every day and 10% of this global total is from toilet paper!”

The price for the 48 rolls was $48 plus another $8 for delivery totaling $56.  On the face of it, this adds up to about $1.00/roll undelivered compared to our usual cost of about $0.75/roll but the rolls are 3 ply versus 2 ply.  They have the same 400 sheets as our usual brand does.  I’ve never taken much notice of the finer details of toilet paper before but, for the purposes of this post, I had a brief look at what the supermarkets offer and I see that the range is huge and the price variation considerable.  The cheapest is about $0.35/roll and the most expensive about $1.10/roll but the thickness, number of sheets, texture of the paper and how many rolls you have to buy for the price varies a lot.

Conclusion: Definitely important to use recycled toilet paper as part of a low carbon life and worth a trying this brand.