Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

T.P. poll

Seventh GenerationWe've been using 100% recycled toilet paper for over 10 years now. There are a few more choices on the market now and things are a lot less scratchy these days. Plus, it's relatively easy to find it at pretty much any grocery store.

So this leads me to this week's poll:

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you brought up recycled TP. I've been wanting to try it, but unfortunately my family is not as enthusiastic about the idea. I would love to try, the trick is convincing the people around me that it isn't at all gross. Does anyone know if there is any difference in cost between regular TP and recycled TP?
Thanks for your blog! I love reading it!

Anonymous said...

Say, Crunch- can you provide a link to some nice objective and authoritative analysis on the actual impact of "regular" TP vs. recycled, vs whatever?

I'm not sure why this gets so much attention. I have a sneaking suspicion it's a leftover concern from ancient days. Is it really that big a deal?

Crunchy Chicken said...

anonymous - I'll try to find something objective, but most things I've seen are somewhat biased.

For now, let's just say that it's the difference between using virgin forest products versus recycled paper products. So, if you're interested in protecting virgin forests and the wildlife that inhabits in, then go with the recycled.

But, I'll try to find something for ya!

Crunchy Chicken said...

Here's a breakdown of which paper products use what. It's from the NRDC:

A Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products

Anonymous said...

Hmm... Pardon my euro-ignorance but what is Novelty?

Crunchy Chicken said...

alina - novelty is something branded with your favorite characters, sports team, politicians or holiday theme. See this site for examples.

Anonymous said...

Dear Crunchy,

Thanks so much for publishing this! I just got through reading "Garbage Land" and "Waste to Want" and I have completely switched to recycled paper products. It's not that hard -- you can buy them at Safeway for goodness sake! (Earth First). I wondered how Earth First rated, but they are right there on the list you provided when you use that link.

Yes, it is a tad bit "scratchier" than regular TP (really hardly at all) but ladies, the TP is, umm, "in use" for about 5 seconds. Time it yourself if necessary. Are we that high maintenance that we can't change our habits five seconds at a time? :)

To Anonymous, it is a bit more expensive, yes, but if you think about it, it is more expensive in the long run to cut down all the trees and keep the global warming arc going straight up! I figure if enough of us buy it, like anything else, the price will go down.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, try buying the TP without anyone seeing the package, then just replace the empty rolls with the recycled.

I used to be under the impression that recycled TP had to come from, well, other TP! LOL! A bit naive, yes, but the impression exists.

Anonymous said...

And the thought of wiping my booty with Dubya's face *IS* quite tempting... if only that came as recycled... knowing Dubya he probably figured out a way to make it from petroleum products! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Hiya- there were 2 anonnys here, I was the 2nd, asking for "objective" etc. Many thanks for digging that out.

Communicating is a bear, ain't it? My favorite comment on the problem- "The single biggest problem in communcation is the illusion that it has taken place." GB Shaw. The article from NRCD is definitely authoritative; and probably even 98 % accurate - but danged if I learned anything from it. I'll bet you most plain "consumer" types would come away from that publication with the same impression. "Gosh, these guys sure know what they're talking about! Look at all the columns!" "so, what did you learn?" "uh......"

One thing I DO know: "virgin fiber" and virgin trees are SO not the same thing. But it's going to be very easy for most people to get that idea. A LOT of paper comes from trees planted (by... Tree Farmers!) to provide fiber. Virgin fiber! It's a crop; and a better one than soybeans, for sure.

"Recycling" - is far from pure, energy and chemical wise. You gotta clean all that dirty, deflowered fiber. And ship it somewhere, etc.

I'm still pretty confused as to whether there's a real benefit to the recycled stuff; apart from making people feel like they're doing something. There's nothing wrong with that- but I'd much prefer to REALLY be doing something.

Crunchy Chicken said...

anon-2 - hey there, I haven't posted anything that would argue one way or the other, the NRDC list was something I dug up whilst I was looking for something for you. It just gives a breakdown of the different products.

You are definitely correct in the difference between virgin fiber from tree farms and virgin trees. And the cost of recycling (environmental and otherwise) is certainly not trivial.

I'll try to find something more along the lines of what you are looking for, however, the stuff I'm finding generally can be viewed as "biased". I'm still looking for the objective analysis. Maybe it doesn't exist :)

Marieke said...

I tried switching to 100% recycled (Trader Joe's brand), but my husband put the kibosh on that one when it came time to get more.

I'm gonna have to try some different brands for something less scratchy. It's one of the few things he very particular about!