I was surprised to find that the widespread use of toilet paper is practically a new phenomenon: up until about a century ago, many different things served the purpose. Now the single-use personal tissue, napkin and towel is so common that little thought is given to them. Of course we need napkins in the fast food restaurant, paper towels for the little spills and to drain grease from bacon or French fries and all of us have turned around and left public rest rooms with insufficient paper supply. We can replace napkins and paper towels with cloth, but I am very unwilling to consider discontinuing the use of toilet paper.

It was big news in the San Francisco area during the past two months, and I’ve heard it was even nationally addressed, that upper-scale fluffy and soft toilet paper is the worst kind for the environment. It needs new wood pulp, not recycled, and the process uses more of it than run of the mill papers. I’ve slowly been becoming acclimatized to California recycling sensibilities and have made a concerted effort to do what I can to reduce the (nagging deep, evil voice) carbon footprint of this baby boomer. Therefore on my regular shopping trip for weekly supplies I walked past my big double roll package of upscale fluffy toilet paper, on sale, I saw with dismay, and picked up a package of each brand of toilet paper to find out which ones used recycled paper.

There was no mention of recycling on *any* of the packages! With no information whatever, I gave up and, because our need was almost immediate, bought the fluffy sale item. I shop in one of the nonmember warehouse stores, so I wondered if the selection was not as good as in other kinds of stores. For this column, I checked the nearby drug store and grocery store and was surprised to find that the selection of brands was almost exactly the same.

I then finally took my investigation online. I looked up toilet paper manufacturing, toilet paper brand sites, and toilet paper white papers in a short search: The only ones I found useful for brand identification were,
Treehugger,  National Resource Defense Council,  and Greenpeace.  The issue is greater than virgin forests,  pulp processing for toilet paper can use chemicals that are clearly unhealthy and polluting. The Treehugger site gives short, concise brand information and the Greenpeace report, which triggered the media coverage, includes chemical processing information.

Many paper manufacturers own their forests, but I could find no information about which ones they were or about their land management. Are they clear cutting? Thinning and reforesting? Has any manufacturer actually used second generation trees? I don’t know. I will write to manufacturers and environmental organizations to find out and will report to you when I can. The only mention of “materials” was on one manufacturer’s products, which claimed to use domestic and imported materials. Definitely not forthcoming.

So,  which products are good for the environment? If you are not shopping for your paper products online or in environmentally conscientious stores such as Trader Joe’s or Whole foods, you are probably not offered paper from recycled materials. Safeway advertises on their website a “green” brand and 100% post user product. I was unable to make a trip to a Safeway near my home before we left town this weekend, so I don’t know if those near my home carry it.

Many of the brands on the Treehugger and Greenpeace sites were unknown to me, so I couldn’t have looked for them in the stores, anyway. If you have storage, all the brands that recycle seem to sell online in bulk. I can’t buy cases of anything, because I live in an apartment with very limited storage. There are, however, some brands of toilet paper from recycled materials carried in select grocery stores. I urge you to visit the three sites mentioned to decide which brands are accessible to you.

We can, as recommended by most news sources, simply switch to single ply or less fluffed products, but since there are several manufacturers of 100% recycled material toilet paper, I feel morally obligated to go out of my way to purchase them. There are some modern conveniences I simply cannot do without!