If you were to unfurl all the toilet paper that Americans use in a year, it would stretch more than 930 million miles. That would reach from the Earth to just beyond Saturn.
Toilet paper is one of those ubiquitous household items we all use every single day. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never given my bum-cleaning tool too much thought.
But consider this: per year, producing our toilet paper bridge to outer space churns up tens of millions of trees and uses approximately 197 billion gallons of water per year. And production emits as much greenhouse gas as 12.4 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles. When I read these mind-blowing numbers, I started to give a crap about toilet paper.
What Is the Most Environmentally Friendly Toilet Paper?
Not all toilet paper is created equal, says Ashley Jordan, corporate campaign advocate for Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).NRDC is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group that leverages science, policy, law, and people power to safeguard the earth.
NDRC publishes an , analyzing and grading (A to F) the environmental impact of top brands. This grade takes into consideration the impact tissue production has on Canada’sboreal forest, a massive swath of old growth trees that stretches for 1.2 billion acres from Newfoundland to Alaska.
The Canadian boreal forest is an environmental superhero. “Its soil and vegetation stores more carbon acre-per-acre than any other terrestrial ecosystem on Earth,” says Jordan. “But every year, Canada clearcuts a million acres of boreal forest, in part, to feed U.S. tissue consumption. The toilet paper we choose can have a major impact.”
But not all toilet paper comes from this embattled ecosystem, and the NRDC also examines products generated from other sources.
Breaking Down the Impact of the Three Major Types of Toilet Paper
Forest fiber
Most toilet paper brands come from wood pulp harvested from trees. Think Charmin, Scott, Cottonelle, and Kirkland (Costco) as well as most low-budget brands. “Each roll of forest fiber toilet paper uses around 1.2 to 2 pounds of wood,” says Jordan. “It requires twice as much water and has three times the carbon footprint of recycled fiber tissue.” No surprise: all the 100 percent forest fiber toilet papers received Fs on NRDC’s report card.
Many forest fiber brands display “FSC Mix” label—a certification that requires a product to be made from a blend of recycled wood and trees harvested from specific forests (including the Kirkland brand that I’ve bought for years). “FSC Mix brands brands get some additional points in our methodology,” says Jordan, “but ultimately, they still earn F grades.”
Bamboo
The wood-like plant is often touted as an environmentally friendly alternative because it’s fast growing and has a lower land use impact and carbon footprint than forest fiber. “It is a better option,” says Jordan, who notes that bamboo toilet papers received Bs and Cs on NRDC’s report card. “But where that bamboo comes from is an important factor. Did it come from a bamboo plantation that was clearcut and converted from a natural forest? Or did it come from a natural bamboo forest?”
Jordan says it can be difficult to tell, so she recommends looking for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) “100%” certification label. “It indicates that the bamboo was sourced in a way that limits negative forest impacts,” says Jordan.
100 Percent Post-Consumer Recycled
These products comefrom paper that has been diverted from the landfill through recycling, then de-inked, re-pulped, and turned into tissue. This is the most environmentally-friendly choice, Jordan says. “As opposed to pre-consumer recycled content, which comes from scraps at manufacturing operations or unsold paper products, post-consumer recycled products have that added element of helping divert waste from landfills and fostering a more circular economy,” says Jordan. The brands that use 100 percent recycled fibers all received As and B+s.
Are Bidets More Environmentally Friendly than Toilet Paper?
The short answer is yes, bidets are more sustainable than toilet paper. They save trees and, surprisingly, they save water, too.
Unless you live in a water-scarce environment, bidets win over toilet paper because spritzing your bum uses far less water than wiping it. Here’s some conservative math: A typical bidet uses about one-eighth ofa gallon of water per-flush. A single roll of standard forest fiber toilet paper requires six gallons. (Recycled toilet paper uses about three gallons). So one roll of standard toilet paper, which lasts my family of four maybe two days, equals 48 bidet sprays. If we each spray twice a day, that means a bidet uses 33.3 percent less water.
And there’s another factor to consider, too. Toilet paper, like so many of our household items, , which I wrote about several months ago. Also known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, this family of chemicals has been linked to a whole host of environmental and health problems like cancer, liver and thyroid problems, reproductive problems, and increased risk of birth defects, among others.
Since we know that the skin absorbs PFAS through contact, it’s a scary thought: with each wipe we could be exposing ourselves—in the most intimate way—to extremely toxic chemicals. Bidets avoid this exposure.
My Bidet Experiment
Bidets have been around since the 1700s, and while about 70 percent of the world uses them regularly, Americans have been slow on the uptake. That all changed when the pandemic hit and we were all scrambling to stockpile toilet paper. Since 2020, bidet sales in the U.S. have grown by .
I decided to see for myself what all the hype was about, so I ordered up one of the most popular, affordable bidets, the . After a simple 15-minute install, I was in business.
The Classic 3.0 is a simple insert that attaches to the base of the toilet between the bowl and the seat. A control panel juts out to side. A knob on the panel controls the spray. Here’s how it works: You sit. You poop. You spin the knob which controls the pressure, and a targeted jet of water hits you where the sun doesn’t shine. After about five seconds, you turn off the jet, grab a square of (recycled) toilet paper, dab dry, and off you go. (Tushy also offers washable bum towels as an alternative to toilet paper, but I have yet to make that leap.) My toilet paper use has plummeted by about 90 percent.
It’s been about a month of butt-washing, and I adore it. Seriously, there is nothing not to love about using a bidet. It saves trees, it saves water, it saves money, and my bum has never, ever been so clean. I’ll be ordering Tushys for the other bathrooms in my house. Heck, I’ll be ordering them for people on my Christmas list.
The upgraded model, the , is intriguing. It includes a seat warmer, a blow dryer, and the ability to control the water temperature. (I will surely appreciate this winter months!) But the Ace requires an electrical outlet near the toilet. I plan on installing one before the cold comes.
*The internet is rife with conflicting data about toilet paper. I made a few assumptions based on reliable sources (listed below) and relied on to determine the amount of resources that toilet paper consumes. Note: I calculated the numbers for forest fiber toilet paper. The reality is that an indeterminant portion of U.S. toilet paper usage is recycled.
- The average roll of toilet paper weighs 5 ounces and stretches .03 miles, according to my actual measurements.
- U.S. population is 345,000,000, according to
- The average person uses 85 rolls or 28 pounds of toilet paper per year, according to Statista. I adjusted this number conservatively because Statista’s assumption that a roll of toilet paper weighs just three ounces seemed way light compared to the variety of rolls I measured.
Hostetter has invited several friends over to poop on her bidet. Each one left a convert. Follow her journey to live more sustainably by for her twice-monthly newsletter.