Of tissue products and trees

We make decisions that impact our world on a daily basis, even when we buy tissue. The Natural Resources Defense Council recently analyzed tissue products produced by various companies. The following factors where considered: percent recycled, percent post-consumer, and the bleaching process used.

Percent post-consumer refers to the percentage of fibers “recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.” The bleaching process involved in creating of the tissue product varies by the amount of chlorine used: processed chlorine-free (PCF) and elemental chlorine-free (ECF). Interestingly, none of the products were totally chlorine-free.

From this analysis, NRDC developed a Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products, which recommends the tissue products to buy and the ones to AVOID.

The bottom line:

• AVOID Kleenex, Puffs facial tissue
• AVOID Charmin, Cottonelle toilet paper
• AVOID Bounty, Viva paper towels
• AVOID Bounty, Kleenex napkins

To learn which tissue products NRDC found acceptable, visit the Shopper’s Guide. Is it worth it? According to NRDC:

If every household in the United States replaced just one box of virgin fiber facial tissues … one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper .... one roll of virgin fiber paper towels …. one package of virgin fiber napkins … 

We could save a total of 2,130,900 trees. That’s a lot of trees.