Post-poop cleansing is as old as humankind itself. And over the years, we’ve used a staggering array of materials for our wiping needs. For ancient Romans, it was a sponge on a stick soaked in vinegar. The Talmud (the main text of Jewish law) suggested using small pebbles. For much of history, people utilised whatever was available: leaves, corn cobs, cloth rags, snow, catalogues or their bare hands.
Then there were the characters in French 16th-century writer François Rabelais’s book Gargantua and Pantagruel, who after road-testing hens, pullets, calves’ skins, hares, pigeons, coifes and “faulconer’s lure”, decided that “of all the torcheculs, arsewisps, bumfodders, tail-napkins, bunghole cleansers, and wipe-breeches, there is none in the world comparable to the neck of a goose …”
It’s safe to say that when toilet paper first went on sale in the US in the mid-1800s, hygiene changed for the better. Yet, more than 100 years later, it’s clear another revolution is needed: loo roll as we know it is no longer fit-for-purpose in our socially responsible, climate anxiety-ridden times.
Every day about 1m trees are cut down to meet the globe’s insatiable toilet roll usage, according to the Toilet Paper Environmental Sustainability Report. In the UK, we get through 1.3m tonnes of loo paper every year, working out at 127 rolls per person (one nearly every three days). The average Briton uses 12 trees of toilet paper in their lifetime, amassing the equivalent of 3,195kg of CO2 in the process.
If anybody is going to spearhead toilet paper’s transition to a greener, low-carbon future, then streetwise Australian brand Who Gives A Crap is probably the prime contender. Its toilet papers are made using recycled paper or bamboo, both far less damaging to the world’s forests. Not only that, but since founding in 2012, Who Gives A Crap has given 50% of its profits to charities/non-profits that are working to improve access to water and toilets; more than £6m has been donated to date.
But back to deforestation. Adverts from larger brands are quick to express how pillowy and velveteen their toilet rolls are, all quilted sheets and multi-ply fibres. These super-soft varieties are particularly damaging to forests, as they use more virgin wood pulp.
Global demand for virgin pulp is harming habitats and biodiversity. In Canada’s boreal forest, logging emits an estimated 26m metric tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere every year, with a million plants and animals facing extinction. One 2019 report (pdf) by the Natural Resources Defense Council found Canada’s forest area had declined by 9% since 2000 due to logging.
Meanwhile, felling in the rainforests of Sumatra is threatening the already endangered Sumatran tiger and Sumatran rhino, while Greenpeace has warned the biodiversity of Sweden’s Great Northern Forest is at risk from the timber industry.
By contrast, Who Gives A Crap estimates that if everybody in the UK switched to using bamboo or recycled toilet paper (neither of which use virgin wood pulp), it could prevent 33,330 trees from being felled each day (pdf).
Bamboo is especially beneficial. Because bamboo is a fast-growing plant – sometimes rocketing as much as one metre a day – it’s harvested more frequently than trees. The result? Bamboo loo roll needs almost 90% less land per sheet to produce than traditional toilet paper. Meanwhile, because Who Gives A Crap’s recycled toilet tissue is made from recycled paper from schools and offices, much less energy is needed to convert the fibres into loo roll than traditional wood pulp.
Deforestation isn’t the only ecological problem where loo roll can have a pernicious impact. The fibres used in stronger paper take longer to disintegrate, often clogging sewers and U-bends. Whether recycled or made from bamboo, all Who Gives A Crap toilet rolls are safe and good to use in septic systems. They’re also vegan, and the company gives arts and craft advice on limiting waste on its hilarious Talking Crap blog.
When the firm started in 2012, CEO Simon Griffiths sat on a toilet in a draughty warehouse and refused to move until they raised enough pre-orders to start manufacturing (it took 50 hours). Now, as Who Gives A Crap celebrates the 10th anniversary of the delivery of its first product in 2013, there’s clearly more work to do.
Two-thirds of Britons have no idea that toilet roll contributes to deforestation, the company notes. There’s no need for consumers to start using the necks of waterfowl for wiping our hindquarters just yet, but rethinking our choice of toilet roll would be a major start.
Shop for Who Gives A Crap’s 100% recycled or bamboo toilet paper today
