The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us?
Why we should all swap to this eco-friendly loo roll that helps to save trees
Making small changes this Plastic Free July, even in the bathroom, can make a huge difference
Every year, over 100-million people part ways with single-use plastic for a whole month during Plastic Free July. By making small yet significant changes, participants reduce their plastic waste in favour of cleaner streets and oceans. As it only takes 30 days to change a habit, these changes will hopefully remain far beyond the end of the month.
It’s not just something to think about now though, but all year round. You can make changes now that affect your everyday, and you can inspire other people to do the same.
From reusable water bottles and coffee cups to sanitary products and nappies, there’s plenty of ways to make a positive impact. For toilet paper, this means choosing an option without plastic packaging, though it’s not just plastics that matter here.
Did you know that every day an estimated 27,000 trees are cut down, just to make toilet paper? That’s right – trees are cut down for the luxury of us to use paper once before flushing it down the loo and never seeing it again.
Enabling deforestation just to softly wipe our bums makes no sense whatsoever. Yet as a nation, we have become obsessed with using the luxury stuff to wipe our bums, with four-ply quilted (of course, darling), being the optimum wiper. This means more virgin pulp is used in making it, rather than recycled materials.
Read more:
To put this into context, in the UK alone we use a staggering 1.3 million tonnes of tissue a year, according to the Confederation of Paper Industries. That’s estimated to be around 127 rolls per consumer every year.
Of course, some brands do use recycled materials, but incredibly this has decreased over the past few years, despite a strong rise in interest in environmentalism, recycling and finding alternatives to single-use plastics. COVID has undeniably propelled this decrease with the use of single-use masks and PPE, along with a rise in single-use coffee cups and other utensils in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.
According to Ethical Consumer, some major brands were using less recycled paper in their toilet roll in 2019 than in 2011. Andrex even discontinued its recycled paper and bamboo line back in 2015.
There are some brands changing the status quo, though, such as Who Gives a Crap. For those that are not familiar with it, essentially it’s an Australian start-up (available in the UK) that has completely revolutionised how this everyday commodity is made, bought and used. Here’s what you need to know.
Who Gives a Crap 100% recycled toilet paper: 24 rolls for £28 or 48 for £44, Whogivesacrap.org
Writing an ode to toilet paper is not something I ever imagined doing, but here we are. For me, it’s been a real game changer in many ways, and not only because of its sustainability credentials. I first came across it while setting myself the Plastic Free July challenge in 2018. It is as it sounds, where you avoid single-use plastic for an entire month.
It sounds easy, but it ain’t. Single-use plastic is everywhere – just look around you and you’ll inevitably notice it: wrapping your bananas, onions, flowers, kitchen roll, meat, milk cartons – and that’s just the kitchen. Its downfall is that it was made to last forever. Whoever thought that was a good idea clearly had little foresight into the havoc it would wreak when crossed with capitalism and ever-growing populations.
For me, I was obsessed with the idea of no longer buying rolls of toilet paper that came in that annoyingly thin clear plastic that’s so hard for consumers to recycle. And the onus falls on to us to deal with it, not the huge companies producing it.
Read more: The ethical and sustainable B Corp brands to know about
Who Gives A Crap (WGAC) recognises there is no need to cut down trees just to make toilet paper. Instead, it uses recycled paper from used textbooks and old office supplies to make rolls with 400 sheets of three-ply paper. Unlike packs you buy from the supermarket, each roll is individually wrapped in more recycled paper. Bingo! There’s no plastic. This may sound excessive to individually wrap each roll, but the brand says if it were to package six rolls together (which is the max allowed), it would need far thicker paper, and by net weight, wrapping individually is the same. Its shipping is also carbon-neutral.
I buy the 24 pack, as finding where to store that amount is enough, let alone 48. But for bigger households or families, the 48 pack is the better value buy. There’s also a bamboo paper option, which is also eco-friendly as bamboo grows incredibly quickly. And if you want tissues and kitchen roll, you can do a one-stop-shop order as well.
WGAC is also a B Corp brand. It has met incredibly high standards to be able to have the certification – only around a third of all companies that apply actually get it. The idea is that the brand follows sustainable and ethical practices. In order to pass, companies need to take an exam that scrutinises how the business works and attain 80 points in five categories: governance, workers, customers, community and the environment.
Read more: 14 best sustainable period products, reviewed
Aside from the packaging, the second great thing about this brand is that it’s a subscription, so there’s no more waddling home with a huge multipack under your arm. And you’ll never run out again. Phew. But if you feel you might, you can bring your delivery date forward, and similarly, you can also push it back too if you’ve not quite got through your existing pack.
These are the benefits for consumers and the environment, but it doesn’t stop there. The brand is doing big and impressive things with its business model to help the people who most need it.
More people in the world have access to mobile phones than they do clean and safe toilets. Currently, there are around 2 billion people who still need access to clean water – that’s one third of the world’s population. Not having access to sanitary drinking water can led to serious illnesses and death – all of which is avoidable if you have clean toilets. So half of WGAC’s profits are donated to its charity partners who work in water, hygiene and sanitation, including WaterAid, WaterSHED and Shining Hope for Communities.
Voucher codes
For discounts on reusable bottles and other plastic free essentials, try the links below:
Read about the Smol washing capsules that inspired one writer to make the green switch