Wipe my tushy? Yes, please.

Toiler paper is my chamomile tea. Having it helps me feel calm. The scramble for toilet paper in the United States during the first pandemic lockdown showed that many Americans feel the same way. Statistics show that Americans have the most special relationship in the world with TP. 2X more special than France and Italy and 1.5X more special than Japan (see World Toilet Paper Consumption graph from Statista).

I've read that the average American uses 57 squares per day. Wow! I don't think of myself as average but I am when it comes to daily TP usage. I tend to layer it up or wrap it around my hand, wipe and repeat multiple times. Now that I'm aware of this about myself, I'm going to consciously cut my usage. Seriously, do I need to layer it up so much?

Why do I want to cut down on my toilet paper usage? Because we cut down over 700 million trees a year globally to make new toilet paper. Production of the toilet paper takes 1,165 million tons of water and 78 million tons of oil.* 98% of new toilet paper in the U.S. is made from cutting trees for 100% virgin softwood pulp, while only 2% of new toilet paper is made from recycled paper.** I've never connected cutting down my TP usage behavior and saving save our world. Now I know that changing my TP usage behavior even slightly will significantly help save the forests that absorb our carbon.

Not only am I going to cut down, I'm switching to "tree-free" 100% sugar cane bamboo toilet paper or 100% post-consumer recycled paper toilet paper. I've tried Tree Free Green2 toilet paper purchased from CVS or Seventh Generation toilet paper purchased from Bristol Farms. The Seventh Generation 100% recycled paper is slightly softer than the Tree Free Green2 bamboo and sugarcane toilet paper, but I'm choosing the latter because it's a small women-owned business working to make a big impact. 

I'm willing to give up "new" toilet paper from virgin softwood pulp and trade into bamboo and sugarcane paper to help sustain our planet. Will you join me? 

*www.theworldscounts.com