In an earlier post, I mentioned that trees were annoyed with me for not switching from books to Kindle 2. I added that they also would like for me and every other American to switch to coarser toilet paper. At the time, I didn’t think I could tackle what is actually an extremely serious issue — the way Americans regard toilet paper—without resorting to juvenile jokes. But as the saying goes, if not me, who, and if not now, when? (By the way, even though it took a couple of days and some hard thinking, I’m saving my money to purchase the new Kindle.)
But back to toilet paper. What’s up with the pampered American bottom, anyway? How’d we evolve from brave men and women on the frontier — happy to get hold of some leaves and old corn husks— to a people who Need (with a capital “N”) Charmin or Cottonelle? (Don’t you just love the names?)
Ninety-eight percent of Americans scoff at using recycled toilet paper in their homes. Poorer people buy it when the price is right — which it is, more and more. The sorry part is that hard-core greenies spurn it, finding it rough and gray (which it is), no matter what the price. Perhaps they’ll change their minds if they understand how truly harmful it is to produce the soft stuff.
Our love for fluffy toilet paper comes with a heavy ecological price. It requires new-growth trees — recycled paper won’t make fluff — at a rate of about one tree per 1,000 rolls. In a
New York Times article last week, I learned this, and more, like the fact that per capita, Americans use an average of 23.6 rolls of toilet paper per year. (I swear my family goes through more than that, but maybe that’s because we use toilet paper for a variety of purposes, including blowing noses and cleaning up cat hairballs.)
Digging in our heels to defend using new-growth trees for mere fluff makes no sense — in fact, it’s truly absurd. Remember, a) we need trees to fight global warming; b) getting paper out of a tree requires more water than turning paper back into fiber, and we need water as much as trees; and c) many brands using trees also bleach their toilet paper by using polluting chlorine-based bleach. An added plus for toilet paper made from recycled paper is that it produces less physical waste for our landfills.
Anyone who travels outside the States (and dares to venture outside the American hotel zones) knows that rough toilet paper is the norm in public places. The Times article said recycled toilet paper makes up at least 20 percent of toilet paper in homes outside America, but in my travels abroad I’ve never once encountered American-style toilet paper in a home.
Thank goodness that 21st-century eco-capitalism is now applying itself to toilet paper. I say this in all seriousness. Marcal, the oldest recycled-paper maker in the country, has remade itself from a loser company in the fluff toilet paper business (it had gone into bankruptcy) into a rising green company in the rough toilet paper business, with an ambitious plan to get us all to make the switch to rough.
Of course, they’re not putting it that way. They’re launching an ad campaign (around Earth Day) arguing recycled toilet paper is both eco-friendly and economical. They say they can price it at a price that’s cheaper than most soft toilet paper.
Tim Spring, Marcal’s new chief executive, said the company saw “intense interest” in the new product in stores like Walgreens. Certainly a lot can be learned in today’s economy by studying what succeeds at Walgreens — or, put another way, “As goes Walgreens, so goes the nation.” Mr. Spring explained his company’s policies by saying “you don’t have to spend extra money to save the Earth.” I haven’t a clue how he voted in the last election, but the guy sure is humming in tune with the Obama administration.
I can’t imagine serious people going to the mat over soft toilet paper. In fact, I think precisely the opposite. This post offers the smart investor a nice little stock tip.
NOTE: If you’re someone trying to do right by the planet, check
Greenpeace and
Stop Global Warming. These sites offer more on why we should switch to recycled toilet paper, as well as a list of the many brands that are readily available.
(Photo by Flickr user clairity)
