Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests

[groovedaddy]

Americans like their toilet tissue soft: exotic confections that are silken, thick and hot-air-fluffed.

The national obsession with soft paper has driven the growth of brands like Cottonelle Ultra, Quilted Northern Ultra and Charmin Ultra — which in 2008 alone increased its sales by 40 percent in some markets, according to Information Resources, Inc., a marketing research firm.

But fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests in Canada. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them.

Customers “demand soft and comfortable,” said James Malone, a spokesman for Georgia Pacific, the maker of Quilted Northern. “Recycled fiber cannot do it.”

The country’s soft-tissue habit — call it the Charmin effect — has not escaped the notice of environmentalists, who are increasingly making toilet tissue manufacturers the targets of campaigns. Greenpeace on Monday for the first time issued a national guide for American consumers that rates toilet tissue brands on their environmental soundness. With the recession pushing the price for recycled paper down and Americans showing more willingness to repurpose everything from clothing to tires, environmental groups want more people to switch to recycled toilet tissue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/science/earth/26charmin.html?th&emc=th

[iamjoy]

1. That's Rough

pun intended. You mean we have to choose between our tushies and the forests? I love Charmin Ultra!

[sui generis]

2. 40 grit works for me

just rinse and re-use

[Cirque du So-What]

3. That's it. Back to 'John Wayne' TP for me!

...and for those who don't know, John Wayne TP is rough, tough, and don't take shit off nobody!

Seriously, I will start buying paper made from recycled fibers now that I'm aware of the toll soft paper takes on standing forests.

[notadmblnd]

5. if it doesn't take shit off anyone, why would you use it?

Isn't that kinda the point of toilet paper? My toilet cant take the soft fluffy stuff. I use Scott.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Pardon my hyperbole

I was making reference to the stuff I remember - the institutional-tough paper that schools and the military purchase. It has a 'varnished' feel to it and I'm certain it could deliver a nasty cut if used improperly.

[HillbillyBob]

4. A very good reason for bidets , you get cleaner with less cost to the enviroment

Then again the talibaptis fetiche for all things anal.....

[yy4me]

6. As a by-product of the use of the double ply stuff, people with

septic systems are advised not to use it because it does not dissolve like good old single ply.

Plus, I assume everyone can do the math, you are paying twice as much for far fewer squares. Don't just check the price, check the count.

Good area to conserve. Hand towels can also save lots of trees. Get used to having one hanging in the kitchen somewhere near the sink or on the oven handle. Far fewer paper towels needed.

Most generics like CVS and Walgreens run sales on their house brands often. Great savings. I always stock up. Scott and other single ply brands are good too but even on sale are far more expensive.

[CrispyQ]

10. I worked for a lovely woman, who was truly the best boss I've ever had,

but every morning after she finished her two cups of coffee, she would wash her mug & then pull off 2-3 sheets of paper towel to dry it! She used a huge wad of paper towel to dry a 12 ounce coffee mug. :banghead:

Currently there is a Quaker oats instant oatmeal commercial that shows a family with 4 kids & tells how each child can have the oatmeal that they like. They show the family getting ready to leave, & each kid gets his oatmeal in a paper bowl, with a plastic spoon & they eat it in the car on the way to school. These parents can't get up 20 minutes earlier & sit at a table with real dishes to help save a forest for their kids? :banghead: I am horrified at the amount of waste that is a part of our daily lives & in this commercial, shown as normal & perfectly acceptable. :grr:

We are consuming our planet like a swarm of locusts.

[Warpy]

7. I never understood that. I use the cheap scratch your butt

TP that is 1000 sheets to the roll and has to be changed out less frequently. Once, when the store was out of it, I had to get a couple of rolls of that premium stuff and found out it doesn't get along with an ultra low flow, desert toilet. It expands and clogs it in record time.

The only way I could use that stuff is to do like the Mexicans do, throw it in the trash instead of flushing it.

[kestrel91316]

9. I WISH they'd throw it in the trash. Here they throw it on the floor.

NO JOKE.

[CrispyQ]

11. This was a great article.

"Disposable paper products." Would we be as casual with our use of these products if we called them disposable forest products, instead?

[hunter]

12. So, could we make TP out of hemp?

:hide:

[groovedaddy]

13. Sure, why not? n.t