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By Linda Sekura
 One very simple way to reduce your carbon footprint is to use
recycled-content toilet paper instead of the fluffy virgin-wood
kind (most of the mainstream brands, such as Charmin and Cottonelle).
According to the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), if everyone
in the US switched just one virgin roll to recycled content, we'd
save 424,000 trees.
Deforestation accounts for about 20% of annual CO2 emissions.
Plus, as forests are destroyed, we also lose an annual carbon sink
of about 11% or more. And it doesn’t matter where the deforestation
occurs; climate change effects are felt globally and in regions
far removed from the deforestation and greenhouse gas releases.
NASA studies have shown that deforestation in Africa is affecting
rain patterns during the growing season in our Midwest farm belt.
As for concerns about softness of recycled-content toilet paper,
to quote one website: “Your receiving end won't notice a
difference.” If you do a “feel test” with your
fingers, you may notice a bigger difference, but you will get used
to the recycled-content quickly. You will most likely come to prefer
the recycled for its firmness. And, yes, the recycled toilet paper
is "septic tank safe."
Recycled-content toilet paper should be very easy to find, even
in mainstream grocery and discount stores, on the shelf with the
virgin-wood brands. The most common brand is Seventh Generation,
but look for green-colored packaging that many recycled-content
brands use, and read the label. 100% recycled content, with 80%
or more post-consumer content, is best, but any amount of recycled
content is better than virgin. If the market where you usually
buy toilet paper doesn't carry recycled-content, put in a request
to the store manager, telling them you’re a frequent shopper.
As for the cost, recycled can be more expensive than virgin, but
it is usually only a few pennies difference in price by the roll.
For those few pennies, there is no good reason to chop down an
entire forest so we can use the paper once and flush it. To accurately
determine how much product you are receiving for the price, divide
the price by the square footage. But the perceived cost is much
less painless if you divide the price by the number of rolls. Another
option is to buy in bulk on the Internet. Amazon has good deals.
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