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No, this isn’t an article angling for colored toilet paper, but recycled bathroom tissues. It’s a sensitive subject, and the debate over recycled TP gets a reaction out of people. Toilet paper is a specialty product and has a specific use, so you can imagine why people have such strong feelings. Well, these days there is nothing more important than saving our precious resources, so perhaps a few facts will help everyone see the benefits of recycled toilet paper.
Facts About Recycled Toilet Paper
Fact #1: The most often cited fact about recycled toilet paper is the best one to provide context. If every household in the United States switched to one package of 100% recycled toilet paper, one million trees would be saved. That translates to roughly 23 acres of densely packed forest saved. Not by permanently switching to recycled toilet paper, but just one package. With a greater commitment from everyone, every roll purchased compounds the number of trees saved. The world is running short on old growth forest as it as. With greater reliance on recycled paper goods, we could preserve an untold number of virgin trees.
Fact #2: Another important toilet paper fact might hit a little closer to home. The average European uses 13kg of toilet paper per year, and that adds up to billions of rolls of toilet paper. Want more? It would take almost 90,000 of Rubbish Please’s largest trucks to haul away London’s yearly amount of toilet paper. Rubbish Please would be up for the task as no rubbish pile is too big or too small, but the fact remains, that’s s a lot of trucks. And for all of those times people feel they can’t make an individual impact, if your 13kg per year was recycled, you would save 30,000 liters of water and 3000 to 4000 kwh of electricity. For minimal sacrifice, recycled toilet paper has plenty of upside.
To Use or Not To Use
The most common complaints you hear about recycled toilet paper is it isn’t as soft. This is a small concern, and as the market has expanded, more companies are selling softer 100% recycled toilet paper to rave consumer reviews. Another often cited concern is the presence of chemicals like dioxins, BPA, and BPS. Where this is a real concern, the amount of chemicals one is exposed in recycled TP versus the amount in virgin paper products is negligible compared to the benefits of reducing paper waste and stopping deforestation. Want to ease in to recycled toilet paper? Great, because even partially recycled toilet paper makes a difference.
Change can be scary, especially when it comes to TP, but give a recycled roll a chance. You might love it, and you at least know you saved a few trees.
