Toilet Paper

Yep, that's right. Today I'm writing about toilet paper! How fun!

Why is this necessary, you might ask? Well, because like most consumer products today, most toilet paper options are not necessarily gentle or healthy. I don't mean gentle in terms of softness, I mean in terms of how much chlorine is in the paper, which is highly irritating to skin. I've discussed the problems of chlorine in this previous post, so this post isn't about why to avoid it.

This post is about what brands make safe and effective toilet paper.

First and foremost, though, I need to address a big issue with recycled toilet paper, which tends to be free of chlorine: BPA. Yes, the toxic plastic reside is often found in recycled toilet paper. The reason is that the paper products that were recycled and turned into toilet paper often had BPA on them originally, such a receipt paper and newspaper (BPA is in the ink on the newspapers.) This study addresses this issue. 

So let's face it:options are limited. White bleached toilet paper is full of chlorine and possibly other additives, which hurt our skin and cause problems, but the alternative, which is recycled toilet paper, tends to have BPA, which is carcinogenic and endocrine disruptive. It's a problem, for sure. That said, I'm a lot less concerned about the BPA in the toilet paper than the chlorine. The concentration of BPA in toilet paper is much lower than that found in many common foods, especially canned foods (the study I linked to above states this.) If we are actively avoiding BPA in our diet, then I wouldn't worry too much about the BPA in toilet paper, though I'd greatly prefer to avoid it entirely.

The best option might just be a bodeau... if you keep it sanitary, and if it actually works well enough. Or perhaps we should use washable cotton clothes? That's awfully disgusting, but women are already washing their reusable menstrual pads, so is it that different? I, for one, am not likely to go either of these routes. Toilet paper it is!

So, let me review some brands that are reasonable options:

1. Seventh Generation

This brand has two options: unbleached and white. Both are recycled, so BPA might be an issue. Their white toilet paper is bleached with hydrogen peroxide, not chlorine. I've tired both and like them both well enough, but this brand is always my back up plan, never my go-to. While these products don't irritate my skin the way chlorine toilet paper does, I worry a bit that there might be additives in the paper since many of their products do have questionable additives and they do use known pesticides in certain products.

The good: It doesn't cause chlorine irritation. Most of the time it's soft and gentle. It's easy to find nationally. The unbleached version, while too expensive, makes a fantastic statement about our paper products not needing to be whitened with bleach. The unbleached version might actually come from a safer source of non-BPA paper, because the paper that was recycled wouldn't have been bleached in the first place.

The not-so-good: It's distributed in plastic wrapping. Each roll tends to have a different consistency, where one roll was refreshingly perfectly soft, the next ripped and crumbled too easily, and the next was too rough.

The questionable: It's recycled, but they don't say what kind of paper they recycle to make into toilet paper. Are there biproducts other than just BPA? Hard to say.



2. Marcal
Marcal toilet paper is probably the most affordable option since it's on an eternal sale on Amazon. This brand also whitens with hydrogen peroxide, not chlorine.

The good: No plastic! Each roll is wrapped in protective paper, and shipped 24 packs in boxes. There's no chlorine. The rolls are consistent in quality, and they are actually soft. They're strong enough too.

The not-so-good: The rolls are small and they get used up quickly.

The questionable: It's recycled, and they claim they recycle from old newspapers and junk mail, both of which are full of BPA from ink. However, their process is detailed out on their website to show how it's cleaned up and made safe. This brand is actually transparent, which I greatly appreciate.



3. Full Circle

This is a store brand for super markets who have natural foods departments. It may not be available everywhere.

The good: It's affordable, does not use chlorine, and is good quality. It's not the softest, but it's strong and doesn't hurt to use. The rolls last longer than most other "green" brands.

The not-so-good: It's distributed in plastic.

The questionable: Again, recycled toilet paper. This brand is not transparent about what it recycles from, and it's hard to learn much about the brand's general practices to know if they're generally safe. I do buy this brand due to the low price, but it's not my first choice because I know so little about it.


4. Caboo
This brand is rather different! This not not a recycled toilet paper, and is not made from trees. It's made from sugar cane and bamboo, both of which are quickly renewable natural resources.

The good: This is the strongest paper I've ever used, to the point where I occasionally have trouble ripping it cleanly from the roll. It's softness is similar to Scott's - it's more functional than comfortable, but isn't rough at all. The rolls last a long time because I need less and there's simply more on each roll. This brand is also using left over sugar cane pulp and bamboo pulp from the production of other products. They found a way to put left overs to great use! Bamboo does not require pesticides to grow, and there's no chlorine in this product, so it has potential to be safer than others.

The not-so-good: They use plastic wrap - THICK plastic wrap.

The questionable: Bamboo can either be a highly sustainable, natural, and clean source for consumer products, or it can be highly toxic. As far as I know, the toxicity is only in viscose and rayon fiber, and the reason is that the bamboo has to be chemically treated to be turned into these fibers. This toilet paper probably does not need to be treated in the way that fiber does, and it's probably safe. But I simply do not know for sure. Also, sugar cane is often heavily sprayed with pesticides, so there's a potential that there are pesticide residues in this toilet paper, but we just don't know that for sure.



Brands I have not tried, but are chlorine free:
Green Forest (recycled), Natural Value (recyled), and World Centric (made from wheat, which could be heavy in pesticides).


I hope that I've at least created an awareness with this post. There's no right answer as to which brand you buy. Ideally, fresh virgin pulp non-recylced toilet paper would also be available by major brands like Charmin and Scott's, but to my knowledge that does not exist. While that would mean cutting down more trees, which is potentially an environmental issue, it actually would mean safer toilet paper in that we wouldn't be exposed to BPA and other contaminates through the recycling process.