are you addicted to soft toilet paper?
One of the most e-mailed stories in The New York Times this week is about toilet paper: Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Trees. It talks about America’s unharnessed addiction to supremely soft toilet paper, and how terrible for the environment it is to produce it. All those quilted, puffed squares are made from many trees, and lots of bleach and other chemicals. Really, there’s no reason for toilet paper NOT to be made from recycled paper, except that we don’t like it. I admit to using Scott toilet paper — which is not particularly soft, but it’s not recycled either. Chad says it’s the Clint Eastwood of toilet papers: Rough, tough and it doesn’t take any crap off anybody. (LOL, forgive the crudeness, I couldn’t help myself). This article has me thinking about switching our brand devotion — though the only kind of recycled tp I’ve seen is Seventh Generation. I wonder if it comes in 12 packs? Regardless, I’m willing to give it a try. Are you? –Angela M.
I have only tried one recycled brand and was not happy with the results at all. I used to buy the cheapest stuff I could find because it was only going down the toilet anyway. Then I tried the soft kinds and found that when the tissue became wet, little pieces of it stuck to my bottom. Then I discovered Contenelle brand (not sure if that’s spelled correctly) and I will never buy another brand again. I guess you could say I’ve become a toilet paper brand snob.
We have Cascades up here in Canada – its great! Wiping our bums with chemical laced, virgin forest just isn’t right.
Having just paid the big bucks for still more maintenance on our aging sewer system, I’d have to point out that toilet paper choice is really a three-factor decision: comfort, environment, and sewage. Septic tanks are even more suspectible to the stuff, of course, and it’s pretty much axiomatic that the better the stuff feels, the worse it is about clogging pipes and/or not breaking down in the system.
The super-duper-fluffy-bunny stuff Cottonelle would pretty much be the kiss of death for old clay pipes like ours.
Our local Kroger carries Marcal brand recycled paper (which is fine by me) and CVS has their own brand of recycled paper as well.
Our local co-op carries Seventh Generation and I have had no problems with it. It’s not the uber-fluffy bunny of toilet papers but I don’t really notice a difference between it and the regular stuff so I am going to keep buying it. I don’t need fresh trees to wipe my butt with.
I’ve tried the Seventh Generation and for the cost, convenience (but mainly the feel) I went back to good ol’ Scott. I think fluffy/soft toilet papers feel gross.
Here’s a link to Greenpeace’s tissue guide. Funnily enough it’s a PDF you have to print out!
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/forests/tissueguide
I was on a recycled toilet paper kick for awhile, which my husband was not pleased with (same reasons as Chad basically). But this is what finally made him a convert: our 1940s plumbing backed up into our basement not once, but twice. Not. Pretty. The plumber told us that basically our drainage from the house was getting clogged by all that super-lofty toilet paper; it just doesn’t break down fast enough to wash free. Now we use something from Safeway called Bright Green. Recycled, feels a bit like paper, and we’re used to it. You can get used to anything (except constant plumbing bills).
PS The plumber told us that Angel Soft would have worked fine as well. I’m not sure where that is on the soft/bad scale.
being in canada, i also use cascades and its totally fine though we also have some seventh generation in the downstairs (read basement) bathroom and i find its not as nice … hmmm, we also have clay pipes so good to know the stuff i use is also good for the plumbing :-)
i’ve been lucky to have 4 options in recycled paper here in SF (7th gen, earth friendly, 365, TJs), and for all i found that they are:
a. not absorbent (more paper required)
b. not sufficient with solids (more paper and some sort of “wipe” required)
c. incredibly rough
i guess i have a babysoft bum, but it will be a good long time before i convert!
Publix sells recycled toilet paper under their greenwise brand, which is what we use. It’s fairly soft, although we are not that picky. It comes in a 12 pack, too. At work, we’ve gone green and now use all recycled paper products. I have no idea what the brand is, but it’s very soft–much softer than the non-green rolls that we used to have. So, don’t fear the recycled stuff!
cvs’s brand is very cheap. i get that. it certainly isn’t super soft, as i am reminded each time i go to my parents house and have the pleasure of using their tp, but i am willing to make that sacrifice. it isn’t THAT bad…
I agree that TJ’s toilet paper sucks, but I just realized, I don’t use Seventh Generation, I use a brand called Green Forest with similar packaging. Relatively soft and not too overpriced in my book.
I recommend Marcal. It goes on sale pretty often, and is much like Scott, although they are coming out with a softer version too. We can get it at our local grocery store, no problem, and its cheaper than 7th Gen. Its 100% recycled! Yay!
[...] water in general, but I knew that would get your attention. Remember our post about how bad soft toilet paper is for trees? That was a popular one. Well, here’s [...]
3 plumbers…$1200…I finally realized it was our new favorite TP…cottenelle!