When it comes to toilet paper most people don’t think “green” (well…depending on what you eat) – but in all seriousness Recycled Toilet Paper is another way for the eco-conscious individual wanting to lessen their impact on the planet…without resorting to leaves.
Contrary to what you might originally think of when you hear recycled toilet paper, it is actually numerous types of paper products such as newspapers, typical printer paper, receipts and so on all recycled in a lengthly process. It is not simply the reusing of someone elses poop-on coupons. And there is actually quite a selection (believe or not) of recycled toilet paper available on the market. Here’s a quick guide for brands with the highest green ratings to look out for:
| Brand | Post-Consumer % | Overall Recycled % |
| Green Forest (Planet, Inc.) | 90 | 100 |
| 365 (Whole Foods) | 80 | 100 |
| April Soft (Atlantic Group) | 80 | 100 |
| Earth Friendly (Earth Friendly) | 80 | 100 |
| Fiesta & Fiesta Green (Atlantic Group) | 80 | 100 |
| Natural Value (Natural Value) | 80 | 100 |
| Seventh Generation | 80 | 100 |
| Trader Joe’s Bath Tissue (Trader Joe’s) | 80 | 100 |
| CVS Earth Essentials (CVS) | 60 | 100 |
| Cascades (Cascades) | 51 | 100 |
Finding the right sustainable bath tissue for your rump shouldn’t be a problem – no tissue issue here!
Another plus for these brands is instead using chlorine to bleach their paper – which creates highly toxic carcinogens when mixed with pulp, ending up in the wastewater from mills and ultimately in our lakes and streams – ozone, oxygen and peroxide is used to bleach recycled paper products, creating a significantly less toxic by-product.
According to the National Recourse Defence Council (NRDC) – If every home in the United States replaced one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled TP 423,900 trees would be saved!
There have been concerns over recycled TP containing Bisphenol A (BPA) however. The thought of BPA ridden material touching our nether regions might put you off, but when you see the actual amounts of BPA found in eco-friendly toilet paper it should wipe(sorry, had to) those fears away.
Two things to keep in mind about BPA’s in toilet paper:
1. Recycled paper contains micrograms per gram of Bisphenol A in it (versus the milligrams per gram found in receipts).
2. A person receives only 2 percent of their BPA exposure from paper products compared to the monstrous 98 percent BPA exposure from food packaging.
So unless you’re using food packaging or receipts to clean your caboose then BPA exposure should be the least of your worries.
We’d love to give high fives to those of you who’ve made the switch to sustainable bath tissue…just make sure you’ve washed your hands first.
