Depleting Forests for Toilet Etiquette

A new, contested report from the Natural Resources Defence Council in the U.S. says Canadian toilet paper production is devastating Canadian boreal forests and fuelling climate change. (CBC)

"For Procter & Gamble to say that they can't fix this problem and they can't take responsibility for the role that they're playing in fuelling the climate crisis and forest destruction is an abdication of their own responsibility."

"The toilet paper we buy is a climate decision. When you choose to buy a product that's made from recycled content you are minimizing your own carbon footprint." 

"There are plenty of toilet paper and tissue products out there today that have a much smaller budget than companies like Procter & Gamble."

Shelley Vinyard, campaign manager, Canada Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York

 

"Though we do not own or manage forests, we have a responsibility through our procurement practices to ensure the sustainability of the world's forest resources."

"As such we are committed to understanding our pulp fibre sources, transparency in sourcing and ensuring that sustainable forest management practices are used."

Procter & Gamble statement

 

"There are plenty of brands out there that are made from recycled fibre and alternative fibres that have one-third the climate impact of toilet paper that comes from virgin forest fibre."

"When companies decide to continue producing toilet paper made from forests, and when retailers decide to stock their shelves with toilet paper made from forests, they're making a choice to sacrifice our climate and our world's forest all for something that gets flushed away."

Jennifer Skene, lawyer, Canada Project, Natural Resources Defense Council 

In this undated photo provided by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, the forest is seen after being clear-cut in the southern regions of Quebec's boreal Forest. (Matt Medler/International Boreal Conservation Campaign via Associated Press)

 

For comparisons' sake, there is this little tidbit: a family of four generates about the same amount of carbon as cutting down 27 trees or flying on a jet from Toronto to Vancouver in their annual use of toilet paper. A data micro-bit courtesy of the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council.

The New York-based group just released its annual ranking of toilet paper and it has nothing but biting scorn for companies like consumer goods behemoth Procter & Gamble Corp. which could, but fail to use recycled paper in their products; for example, a top-seller like Charmin. Competition Kimberley-Clark Corp. rates mixed praise for offering environmental tissue -- Scott Essential Standard Roll to the residential market. They retain market shares in tissues such as Cottenelle, however, nullifying the good by the bad.

Forests do a magnificent job of storing carbon dioxide. Canada's boreal forests store close to twice as much carbon -- the greenhouse gas taking the blame for raising the planet's temperature through climate change -- as all the world's oil reserves in combination, the report points out. 

From Melbourne, Australia comes the brand Who Gives a Crap; it and the Green Forest marque out of Wisconsin were given coveted top marks with A plusses on the NRDC 'good' list, scoring close to a perfect 600 points reflecting their manufacture entirely of recycled fibres. They are more than 90 percent post-consumer (pre-consumer recyclables primarily made use of in manufacturing), bleached with a less toxic alternative process

Well known brands such as P&G Kimberly-Clark, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Amazon.com., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Walmart Inc. all earned a failing grade of 'F', for some of their household toiletry brands; products produced of 100-percent-virgin fibres bleached with a process that releases cancer-causing dioxins. Which held them to a well-deserved zero score.

Canadian securities regulators now mostly demand listed companies to report their products' environmental credentials, requiring public companies to disclose information that would influence a reasonable investor's decision to buy, sell or hold a security if they were deliberately omitted or misstated. In the United States where the Securities and Exchange Commission now weighs whether to require companies like P&G, Kimberly-Clark and Georgia-Pacific to disclose climate-change related risks in annual reports which could result in court challenges in future.

In total, 44 brands of toilet paper rolls were ranked by the NRDC report, with eleven earning As or higher. The top achievers alongside Who Gives a Crap, and Green Forest included U.S. brands such as Whole Foods, Natural Value, Seventh Generation, Trader Joe's Target and Publix, not available in Canada.

 

Rapid growing Bamboo can be used for tissues of bamboo fibre, with a smaller ecological footprint. Unfortunately some of the bamboo plantations sourced for the production of toilet paper sit on sites formerly occupied by primary forests, cleared to make way for bamboo plantations. Groups like the Forest Stewardship Council provide certification evaluating forest use against human rights and ecological impacts.

 

And nor did the NRDC ignore ranking of paper towels and facial tissues. Where Thrive Market, Target and Green Forest paper towels were given A plusses while P&G's Bounty, Kimberly-Clark's Viva, Costco, Amazon and Walmart all were given the failing grade Fs. Oh, and so did Kleenex for its facial tissues.

 

All this in the face of the reality that North American forests are being clear-cut at the rate of a million acres annually. In a "tree-to-toilet pipeline", P&G and Kimberly-Clark increased their purchases of Canadian wood pulp, which should be made ready for dismantling according to the council, to save centuries-old trees and the climate.

 

The Canadian boreal forest stretches from Yukon to Newfoundland and Labrador. (Natural Resources Defense Council)