— Although toilet paper use is widespread in China, North America, parts of the European Union and Australia, its impact on the environment is rarely discussed. Environmental activists have recently begun urging people to learn more about the actual cost per roll of paper, especially the luxurious, soft, super-absorbent TP paper made from virgin wood pulp.
— Vast areas of old-growth forest in Canada and Indonesia, although not the main source of the world’s pulp, are being cut down for paper and tissue products, with impacts on biodiversity and indigenous communities. Eucalyptus plantations that provide TP cellulose are largely ecological deserts, placing stress on water supplies.
“Toilet paper’s environmental impact extends throughout its supply chain. Manufacturing TF is an energy- and water-intensive process that also requires toxic PFAS and other chemicals. Once disposed of, toilet paper becomes an insoluble pollutant that makes wastewater more difficult to treat and increases the volume and chemical composition of sewage sludge.
“Many major toilet paper manufacturers are investing in improved technology to mitigate this impact. But emerging markets in developing countries outside the jurisdiction of environmental authorities are sounding the alarm. Bidet, recycled paper, bamboo, sugar cane and other alternative sources of cellulose offer greener options.
Toilet paper is so common in some countries that it is only noticed when it is gone, as was the case with panic buying at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Believed to have been used in China since the sixth century, inventor Joseph C. Gaietti patented the first commercial “medicine paper” in the United States in the 1850s. Since then, demand has increased dramatically in many places due to population growth, urbanization, changing demographics, changing hygiene habits and lifestyles influenced by advertising.
Despite this, today only 25-30% of the world’s population uses TP, the rest rinse with water or use other methods. However, by 2023, the total annual revenue of the toilet paper industry (dry and wet toilet paper) will be $107.4 billion, sales volume will be almost 46 million tons, and the global market is expected to grow at 5.92% in year. Statista analyst Apoorva Janrao said populous China will generate the most revenue, reaching $22.33 billion by 2023, with an expected annual growth rate of 7% until 2027.
With so much TP disappearing, “people need to start thinking about [the industry's] impact on the environment,” said Okita Miraningrum, an environmental researcher at Aid.
These adverse impacts occur throughout the supply chain, starting with the use of natural forests and eucalyptus plantations; energy-, water- and chemical-intensive manufacturing processes and packaging, as well as final rinsing, after which the waste can be taxed in wastewater treatment; facilities.
Conceptually, toilet paper is simple. It’s made from cellulose fibers and chemicals that bind them together, explains industry expert Greg Grishchenko, a retired mechanical engineer who worked in the toilet paper industry for more than four decades. These fibers primarily come from trees, but can also come from alternative sources such as recycled paper or bamboo.
However, Grishchenko emphasizes that to produce the softest and whitest TP (a quality that is increasingly valued by consumers), pulp made from forest or plantation trees is needed. (The more times paper is recycled, the shorter the fibers become, making it less usable, he explains.)
Analysts say procurement of toilet paper from trees, forests and plantations will also increase as demand for high-quality, soft, absorbent toilet paper grows from consumers focused on hygiene, cleanliness and comfort. Meanwhile, environmentalists warn that the demand for virgin pulp is having dire consequences and is already causing “enormous damage to forests around the world,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Noting that Indonesia is responsible for deforestation more for timber, pulp and paper production than for palm oil, research consultancy AidEnvironment has launched a study of paper products companies and their forest management practices around the world, said Christopher Wei, director AidEnvironment program Christopher Wiggs.
Their report noted that as of 2020, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Indonesia and Chile were the world’s largest exporters of pulp.
Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil are the largest exporter of pulp suitable for toilet paper production and are known worldwide for supplying the highest quality fibers that are critical to the softness of toilet paper, as well as providing quality products at higher margins.
Brazil exported 15.6 million tons of pulp in 2020 as part of an expanding tissue production and export industry. Almost 48% goes to China, about a quarter to Europe, about 15% to the US, and the rest to other countries.
The rapid expansion of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil and other countries has divided environmentalists. Some pulp exporters argue that eucalyptus plantations help curb the global climate crisis by storing carbon.
Others point out that this carbon storage only lasts for a limited time: trees are cut down and turned into pulp every eight years or so. Using native trees for pulp production or cutting them down for plantations also contributes to deforestation.
Other problems have arisen because the invasive eucalyptus trees native to Australia are water-guzzling trees that quickly absorb groundwater, exacerbating water losses in countries such as Brazil and Africa, where droughts caused by climate change have become a serious problem.
Eucalyptus plantations also lack species richness. In addition, groundwater can be contaminated when trees are treated with synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
Finally, Brazilian pulp companies are accused of, among other things, displacing traditional and indigenous peoples from lands they claim.
In Canada, the world’s second-largest pulp exporter, industrial timber harvesting, including pulpwood, occurs in some of the world’s last remaining ancient boreal forests, home to indigenous communities as well as caribou, pine martens and billions of songbirds.
Industrial logging is reported to occupy more than 1 million acres of boreal forest annually, much of it driven by the demand for paper pulp. Canada is the world’s largest producer of northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp and enjoys an advantage in the production of raw pulp paper.
U.S. paper companies are facing pressure from consumers to reduce their use of virgin wood pulp, especially from Canada’s boreal forests. For example, Kimberley-Clark, one of the three largest toilet paper companies in the United States by market share, has set a goal of reducing its use of natural forest fibers (mostly from boreal and temperate forests) by 50% by 2025 compared to 2025. . Baseline 2011.
The company’s website calls the goal “challenging,” but company spokesman David Kellis was unable to provide further information when asked why.
Rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia have also been cleared or converted into plantations for pulp production. A 2023 Greenpeace report said Indonesian group Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), one of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies, has a pulp mill in China that uses wood from large areas of tropical forests that are known to have been deforested. and are endangered, as well as the companies where orangutans live. Kalimantan, Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
While Greenpeace was unable to directly link the paper industry to active deforestation, Wiggers said the environmental group found the wood and paper industries lack the transparency it has seen recently with palm oil buyers. “There’s very little transparency here,” he said.
Some studies suggest that the largest environmental impact of toilet paper comes from the large amount of electricity required by manufacturing plants to heat the pulp, water and chemicals and then dry the resulting rolls.
Of course, carbon dioxide emissions from such plants depend on how each plant is powered—from the grid or from plant heat sources—and whether that electricity comes from fossil fuels or clean sources. The energy efficiency of production equipment also plays an important role.
A study of Poland, whose electricity grid relies heavily on coal, found that the largest overall environmental impact of toilet paper production (both virgin and recycled pulp) comes from electricity use, as well as significant emissions to water, solid waste and wastewater . . air pollution.
Exposure to toilet paper accumulates as the product is packaged, transported, end-used, and disposed of.
An American Chemical Society study published last year found that toilet paper should be considered a “potentially major” source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) entering wastewater treatment systems.
These “forever chemicals” are added when wood is processed into pulp and have a range of adverse health effects on humans and wildlife. Recycled toilet paper can also be made from fibers made from materials containing PFAS.
Others point out that toilet paper is a major component of insoluble pollutants entering wastewater treatment plants. Fiber is a nuisance component of sewage sludge that requires high treatment costs and energy consumption. In countries without wastewater treatment plants, toilet paper can end up directly in waterways.
Reducing all of these environmental impacts requires action from various stakeholders in the supply chain, with solutions as varied and complex as the industry itself.
TP’s first solution is to install and use a bidet that sprays water to wash your butt. Life cycle assessments have shown that bidets have a lower environmental impact than toilet paper in terms of climate, human health, resources and ecosystems (but not water). Other researchers note that the logic of this shift depends on local water and sewer systems.
The second option is to use less toilet paper at the expense of the individual consumer. Statista’s Yanrao notes that Europeans and Britons lead the way in toilet paper consumption. Others note that the average American family uses three rolls per week.
Third option: switch to recycled paper. A comparison of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production process of virgin pulp toilet paper and recycled fiber toilet paper shows that virgin pulp produces higher greenhouse gas emissions than recycled paper, despite the higher heat and electricity requirements of the production process. Due to the increased impact of converting wood into recycled paper (568 kg more CO2 equivalent per kg tissue paper).
Toilet paper made from alternative sources such as bamboo or sugarcane is also gaining traction. However, Grishchenko noted that many brands that produce non-wood fibers source their raw materials from Asian countries, including China and India, and shipping them to consumers on the other side of the world, in the United States or the European Union, will create a large carbon footprint. .
Innovative alternative tissue purchases are also becoming more accessible to most TP consumers. For example, Michaela Wingfield, director of communications for the central region of Essity, one of the world’s nine largest toilet paper makers, said that in 2021 the company opened a plant to produce pulp from wheat straw at its plant in Mannheim, Germany.
This revolutionary technology uses less water and energy during production. “Preliminary calculations show that Essity’s unique straw pulp has 20 percent less environmental impact than paper towels made from wood fiber,” Wingfield said. The fabric is also soft, white and durable, like fabric made from wood fibers.
Other green manufacturing initiatives include installing on-site cogeneration to reduce dependence on the national grid.
AidEnvironment’s Wiggers says Western companies with more sustainability-minded clients are cleaning up their act. He noted that the main driver of deforestation now is emerging markets, especially Asia.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, consumption of wood pulp has slowed in recent decades, mainly due to declines in the consumption of newsprint, writing paper and drawing paper. Instead, future pulp demand is likely to be driven by demand for packaging and sanitary napkins in Asia, the EU and North America.
They note that the most significant market growth is expected to occur in the Asian sub-region, where wood pulp production capacity has increased “significantly” since 2000.
AidEnvironment’s Miraningrum said the entire pulp and paper industry and the countries in which it operates must implement environmentally sound policies and regulations. “The immediate goal is to increase transparency in the forest industry,” Wiggs added.
Critics are also calling on civil society to raise awareness, meaning it may be time to broach the toilet paper conversation.
Post time: May-31-2024