27,000 trees down the toilet every day

Worldwide, the equivalent of almost 270,000 trees is either flushed or dumped in landfills every day and roughly 10 percent of that total is attributable to toilet paper. Meanwhile, growing populations, adoption of Western lifestyles, and sanitation improvements in developing countries are driving the increased use of toilet paper. According to the latest issue of World Watch magazine, the result is that forests in both the global North and South are under assault by paper companies competing to fill consumer demand.

With the increasing pressure to reduce and discontinue the use of old growth forests, the move is on to tree plantations. But is this cure worse than the disease? These monocultures often displace indigenous plant and animal life, require tremendous amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and soak up large quantities of water.

Again, there are those who use virgin paper or recycled paper. Advocates of recycled toilet paper point out that converting virgin pulp to toilet paper requires more water than recycled paper and makes use of the tons of already used paper that fills landfills. Various estimates place the quantity of waste paper tossed into U.S. dumps and landfills at 35-40 percent of total landfilled mass.

Finally, the alternative to toilet paper, water, is also getting scarce, isn’t it? Perhaps recycled water is the answer. As also recycled paper.

Education of consumers is very important to curb waste and use a precious resource optimally.