site

  1. myWWF Sign in
  2. Sign up
  3. Help
  1. Home
  2. Who We Are
  3. What We Do
  4. About Our Earth
  5. How You Can Help
  6. News
  7. Climate
  1. Home
    1. How You Can Help
      1. Live Green!
        1. Out shopping
          1. Tissue & toilet paper

What tissue products you should buy…

To reduce the environmental footprint of paper production and paper consumption, WWF offers a one-stop paper toolbox to help guide paper producers as well as commercial and individual paper buyers.

Comparison of four rolls of toilet paper made of different types of tissue. Visual guide on recycled (left) versus bright white, bleached tissue. Message: Don't go for the whitest!

Before you buy that toilet roll...

Why are beautiful forests ending up in our toilets and sewers?

Because the tissue industry has not heard us: natural forests have no place is products such as toilet paper, kitchen towels and napkins.

Here are some things you may want to keep in mind next time you go shopping for tissue products...

What to look for

  • Buy recycled toilet paper, kitchen towels, napkins and handkerchiefs

    That recycled tissue products are always hard and scratchy is a myth. There are a range of high quality recycled tissue products which are soft and absorbent and which will not reduce your comfort.

    Find out how much recycled fibre content is in the major tissue brands

  • No recycled tissue products? Ask for them at your supermarket

    You will set an important signal by proactively asking for recycled tissue products. The retailers need to know from you that you don’t want to buy toilet paper which puts unnecessary pressure on the environment.

  • No brand name on the tissue product? Ask about level of recycled content

    Retailers across Europe their own brand, or “private label” , products in their stores. The fibres for these products are difficult to trace – they come from the tissue giants as well as a multitude of other manufacturers.

What to watch out for

  • Don’t be misled by recycling claims on the packaging

    Beware that recycling claims often only refer to the wrapping and can be misleading.

  • Don’t choose the whitest product

    The whiter the product, the more likely there is a high level of virgin fibres in the product or a huge amount of bleaching - both with negative impacts the environment. Choose products which are not so bright.
FSC Logo

Is virgin fibre always bad?

If virgin fibres are used they need to come from forests managed to the highest environmental and social standards. Currently WWF only recognises the The Forest Stewardship Council Forest certification system as assurance for this. Therefore we cannot recommend products using virgin fibre content that do not carry the FSC logo.

Companies should make products available with the FSC logo to help you choose the environmentally and socially most preferable product

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence. RSS/Web Feeds

@import url('http://s3.amazonaws.com/getsatisfaction.com/feedback/feedback.css');