Lost in Translation

"I don't want to use recycled toilet paper."

I like to listen to WCCO on my drive to and from work each day.  They keep me in the know about what's going on and they splice in a little humor with Beyond the Headlines.  

I was listening recently when they were discussing an article published in The Guardian titled Wiped Out: America's Love of Luxury Toilet Paper is Destroying Canadian Forests.  The article points out that Americans makeup 4 percent of the world's population but accounts for 20 percent of global tissue use.  Major toilet paper brands use virgin wood pulp to make extra soft multi-ply toilet paper because that is what Americans want after decades of successful marketing tactics.

Wood pulp for American toilet paper comes from the boreal forest in Canada.  Since 1996, 28 million acres of the boreal forest has been cut down to keep up with our 25 pounds per year per person habit of toilet paper usage.

Back to the radio show.  One host said to the other that a solution to this problem is to use recycled toilet paper and the other host responded that she would never, ever use recycled toilet paper.  She felt it is disgusting to even consider "recycling toilet paper."  Neither of them realized that 'recycled toilet paper' is completely different than 'recycling toilet paper.'  

Recycled toilet paper comes from recycled paper, you know, regular paper.  There is no reason that toilet paper needs to be made solely from virgin wood pulp when it can easily be made from recycled paper.  Some toilet paper is even made from bamboo which is more sustainable than wood.  

So where can you get recycled toilet paper?  The best option is through Who Gives a Crap but you can also buy it in store and look for Seventh Generation and Natural Value.  

Now you know what recycled toilet paper is and you don't have to worry that anything has been lost in translation.  You're welcome. 

Trees cut down in the boreal forest.