Every supermarket has a whole aisle dedicated to it, and every shopping
list has it on somewhere. Toilet roll is an everyday commodity that most
people in the world see as a necessity rather than a luxury, but how
many of us think about what impact having such a basic convenience is
having on the increasingly fragile planet in which we live?
With such a
high consumption of toilet roll in the world today, some environmental
campaigners now believe that the use of toilet roll is causing more
damage to our environment than large SUVs, energy-guzzling mansions and
fast food chains which is something that none of us would believe for a
second. But, it is scarily true!
As
we all know, toilet paper (like other paper forms) basically comes from
trees but much of the toilet roll that has been produced in recent
years is largely made up from recycled paper. However, with more and
more companies encouraging customers to go "paperless" (which in itself
is a fantastic step forward for the world's forests), everyday products
including toilet roll are now having to return to the use of raw
materials meaning trees are coming down again at a staggering rate.It
is thought that the average tree can produce around 1,000 rolls of
toilet roll and with America alone using an average of 7 billion rolls
every year, it means that 7 million trees have to be cut down to produce
such a high volume of toilet roll (and that is only in the USA). And
added to this enormous problem, is the "comfort factor" that big brands
promote which includes quilted and lotioned toilet roll...all of which
adds to the environmental impact.
So,
what can we do to help this quite sensitive situation? Well, a number
of countries around the world are known to not use toilet roll at all
but instead use water in the form of bidets and hoses but if everyone
did that, we only transfer the problem to the water table. The key is to
be aware and sensible of your toilet roll usage. Look for products that
only use recycled paper (or a high percentage of it) and try not to buy
into the comfort side of quilted products, along with only using as
much as you actually need will all help to contribute to keeping our
forests alive.
