![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
New toilet paper
Aug. 28th, 2005 08:36 pmToday's change for world sustainability: I switched from Cottonelle with Ripples Triple roll to Seventh Generation.
What I'm looking for in a toilet paper is something that works, that is soft, and that doesn't have any (nasty-smelling) perfume. And ideally something with a minimal contribution to the ruination of the world.
Cottonelle with Ripples is soft, has one ply but is thick, and has no dyes or perfumes. The triple rolls use 1/3 as many little cardboard tubes as regular toilet paper and less packaging. You also don't have to change rolls as often. And they manage to squoosh three times as much into about the same space, so it fits just fine on our dispenser. It is safe for sewer and septic systems. In addition, Cottonelle packages come with puppy points that you can use toward puppy-themed merchandise. And if you join upromise, "5% of every Cottonelle® purchase you make will go into that account to help you save for your child's education." That's so cool, though I never noticed it until today. And though I don't have or plan to have any kids.
According to their website, however, this toilet paper is not "made with any recycled fiber ... it is made with virgin wood fibers."
Seventh Generation costs me about twice as much per square. It has two plies, but is soft on only one side. Well, I suppose I can pay attention while using it. It has no dyes or perfumes. I got the single rolls, but their website says they have double rolls available, too. I will be looking for those for next time, but my HEB didn't have those. It is safe for septic systems (they don't mention sewers). It is made from 100% recycled paper with a minimum of 80% post-consumer materials. The package explains that in addition to saving trees (compared to using virgin wood) and landfill space (compared to trashing what they've used up to produce the toilet paper), "producing recycled paper uses less water and energy than paper made from trees."
In addition they say that most toilet paper is whitened with chlorine bleach which "creates dangerous toxins such as dioxin, furans and other organochlorines" and that like other scary poisons, these accumulate as you go up the food chain.
Obviously they are marketing their product for people with my exact interests: "If every household in the U. S. replaced just one 4-pack of 260 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with 100% recycled ones, we could save 988,200 trees; 2.5 million cubic feet of landfill space equal to over 3700 full garbage trucks; 356 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 2,800 families; and avoid 60,600 pounds of pollution."
Another interesting difference is the plastic wrappers. Cottonelle's advertises theirs as a suffocation device, ahem, warns to keep the bag away from babies and children. Seventh Generation advertises theirs as something you should please recycle, with a 4 in the recycle symbol. I can't find a recycle symbol on Cottonelle. Not that I'm recycling either one.
Unfortunately, I traveled to the store in my car. And it's close enough to where I could have ridden my bike, except for the possible death-by-heat-stroke problem.
All this stuff can get really depressing. I mean, let's face it; I'm still a big part of the problem. But the depressing facts are there even if I shield myself from thinking about them. So I'm trying not to now. Age forty-two should be mature enough to handle this kind of reality, don't you think? (Stupid Jack Nicholson echoing voice: "You can't handle the truth!")
Sustainability web site of the day: Turn the Tide - if you are motivated by checklists or would like to work from a list of nine things you can do that can make a real difference, you might like to check out this site.
What I'm looking for in a toilet paper is something that works, that is soft, and that doesn't have any (nasty-smelling) perfume. And ideally something with a minimal contribution to the ruination of the world.
Cottonelle with Ripples is soft, has one ply but is thick, and has no dyes or perfumes. The triple rolls use 1/3 as many little cardboard tubes as regular toilet paper and less packaging. You also don't have to change rolls as often. And they manage to squoosh three times as much into about the same space, so it fits just fine on our dispenser. It is safe for sewer and septic systems. In addition, Cottonelle packages come with puppy points that you can use toward puppy-themed merchandise. And if you join upromise, "5% of every Cottonelle® purchase you make will go into that account to help you save for your child's education." That's so cool, though I never noticed it until today. And though I don't have or plan to have any kids.
According to their website, however, this toilet paper is not "made with any recycled fiber ... it is made with virgin wood fibers."
Seventh Generation costs me about twice as much per square. It has two plies, but is soft on only one side. Well, I suppose I can pay attention while using it. It has no dyes or perfumes. I got the single rolls, but their website says they have double rolls available, too. I will be looking for those for next time, but my HEB didn't have those. It is safe for septic systems (they don't mention sewers). It is made from 100% recycled paper with a minimum of 80% post-consumer materials. The package explains that in addition to saving trees (compared to using virgin wood) and landfill space (compared to trashing what they've used up to produce the toilet paper), "producing recycled paper uses less water and energy than paper made from trees."
In addition they say that most toilet paper is whitened with chlorine bleach which "creates dangerous toxins such as dioxin, furans and other organochlorines" and that like other scary poisons, these accumulate as you go up the food chain.
Obviously they are marketing their product for people with my exact interests: "If every household in the U. S. replaced just one 4-pack of 260 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with 100% recycled ones, we could save 988,200 trees; 2.5 million cubic feet of landfill space equal to over 3700 full garbage trucks; 356 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 2,800 families; and avoid 60,600 pounds of pollution."
Another interesting difference is the plastic wrappers. Cottonelle's advertises theirs as a suffocation device, ahem, warns to keep the bag away from babies and children. Seventh Generation advertises theirs as something you should please recycle, with a 4 in the recycle symbol. I can't find a recycle symbol on Cottonelle. Not that I'm recycling either one.
Unfortunately, I traveled to the store in my car. And it's close enough to where I could have ridden my bike, except for the possible death-by-heat-stroke problem.
All this stuff can get really depressing. I mean, let's face it; I'm still a big part of the problem. But the depressing facts are there even if I shield myself from thinking about them. So I'm trying not to now. Age forty-two should be mature enough to handle this kind of reality, don't you think? (Stupid Jack Nicholson echoing voice: "You can't handle the truth!")
Sustainability web site of the day: Turn the Tide - if you are motivated by checklists or would like to work from a list of nine things you can do that can make a real difference, you might like to check out this site.