A Guardian article, American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers', quotes Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defence Council:
"This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous. Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age. Making toilet paper from virgin wood is a lot worse than driving Hummers in terms of global warming pollution."
More than 98% of the toilet roll sold in the US comes from virgin forests. The longer fibres in virgin wood convert more easily into soft tissue.
By contrast in Europe and Latin America roughly 40% of toilet paper comes from recycled products.
These are luxuries people can do without and yet the advertisers continue to push these products as though they are an essential part of the washroom experience. Pampered American rear ends expect no less.
The US is far and away the largest consumer of paper products. Americans use three times more per person than the average European and 100 times more than the average person in China.
Greenpeace has launched a campaign to heighten awareness of the dangers to the environment associated with the use of these products. It has come up with a recycled toilet paper guide. This is part of an effort to counter an advertising drive by paper product manufacturers that has celebrities touting the comforts of luxury brand toilet paper and tissue.
By contrast in Europe and Latin America roughly 40% of toilet paper comes from recycled products.
These are luxuries people can do without and yet the advertisers continue to push these products as though they are an essential part of the washroom experience. Pampered American rear ends expect no less.
The US is far and away the largest consumer of paper products. Americans use three times more per person than the average European and 100 times more than the average person in China.
Greenpeace has launched a campaign to heighten awareness of the dangers to the environment associated with the use of these products. It has come up with a recycled toilet paper guide. This is part of an effort to counter an advertising drive by paper product manufacturers that has celebrities touting the comforts of luxury brand toilet paper and tissue.
