Toilet paper is something most of us don’t put much thought into until it’s not there. Shortages made headlines and during periods of hoarding, its absence even became a strange indicator of the times we were living in. Today, according to Consumer NZ, it is rarely on sale. How our personal values inform the everyday choices we make is equally interesting. 

For decades, cuddly animals and “luxury” branding have conditioned us to believe that anything other than conventional toilet paper would involve a sacrifice in comfort, quality, or performance. This simply isn’t the case. Please note that in this article, “best” refers not just to softness or price, but to environmental impact, materials, and packaging choices.

How do review sites decide which toilet paper is best?

Most review sites assess toilet paper based on factors such as:

• Softness

• Strength

• Absorbency

• Value for money

These are all important. Nobody wants toilet paper that fingers easily pierce or feels uncomfortable to use. However, these rankings typically focus on product performance and value. They rarely consider how the product was made, the inputs used to achieve performance, packaging choices or broader environmental impacts.

What mainstream rankings don't measure

How quickly can the resource be replaced?

Tree toilet paper manufactured locally contains mainly a percentage of pine and Douglas firs, and according to the Forestry Corporation, sustainable harvesting within the industry is 30-40 years. Data accessed via the Forest Owners Association New Zealand Plantation Forest Industry Facts and Figures provides harvest age averages over the past five years: Pinus radiata 29.1 years, Douglas-fir 40 years, Cyprus 34 years and Eucalyptus 21 years. Toilet paper is used in seconds.

Bamboo is a resistant plant with rapid growth and a consequent high carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake. The carbon sequestration capacity of bamboo forests has been estimated similar or even larger than that of fast-growing timber plantations. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on earth. Its growth cycle completion occurs between 120 and 150 days. And unlike other cash crops, like pine, when managed responsibly, bamboo requires little fertiliser and pesticides for its management. At the forest ecosystem level, bamboo can play a vital role in rehabilitating degraded land, as a timber substitute, for erosion control and watershed protection. Yet there remains an urgent need to recognise bamboo for its potential in carbon mitigation strategies and as a substitute for agroforestry or forest ecosystems.

Chemicals and transparency

Softness, strength and absorbency are easy to test but understanding the chemicals used during manufacturing is considerably more difficult — and often left out of panels.

Toilet paper manufacturers rarely disclose detailed information about processing aids, bleaching methods or potential contaminants. Yet over the past decade, public awareness of what comes into contact with our bodies has increased significantly. Food ingredients, personal care products, cosmetics and household cleaning products are now subject to a level of scrutiny that was far less common a generation ago. People increasingly want to understand not only what a product does, but also what it contains and how it is made.

Toilet paper has largely escaped this conversation. Yet it is a product used every day and in close contact with our bodies. As interest in material transparency continues to grow, questions regarding bleaching methods, processing chemicals and substances such as PFAS are becoming more commonplace.

One area receiving growing attention is PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), often referred to as "forever chemicals". While PFAS are not intentionally added to toilet paper, traces may be introduced through manufacturing processes, recycled fibre streams or environmental contamination within water and production systems. These chemicals are of concern as they persist in the environment — including our bodies. PFAS are an evolving research area with the impacts continuing to be studied. 

Historically, chlorine-based bleaching processes have also attracted scrutiny due to concerns about harmful by-products. While modern bleaching technologies have evolved considerably, people often have little visibility into how paper products are manufactured or tested and how much chlorine is even present. Chlorine is used to soften and whiten. So the softer the tissue — it is likely that more chlorine compounds were used to achieve that result.

This is why transparency matters. Independent testing and disclosure creates a standardised way for people to make informed decisions. But PFAS or heavy metal testing results are rarely considered.

Read more: Why our toilet paper is FSC 100% bamboo

Packaging

Toilet paper is primarily packaged in film plastic, usually low-density polypropylene or LDPE plastic. Soft plastics are an obvious issue, and the systems in place to collect and process these materials need revisiting. 

While Aotearoa New Zealand continues to operate a soft plastics collection programme, the scale of the challenge remains significant. Collection schemes recover only a fraction of the soft plastics placed on the market each year, and many soft plastic products still have no viable recycling pathway. 

Even where collection exists, questions remain regarding circularity, material recovery rates and whether collected plastics are ultimately returned to equivalent packaging applications. In the most recent report from the panel convened by the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, ‘Rethinking plastics in Aotearoa’ on page 126, we find:

“At present, there are some mechanical recycling solutions for soft plastics collected in the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme that mix these materials with HDPE (#2) to form new products, such as fence posts. Soft plastics are the filler for these new materials – it is not a circular solution.”

Without deep diving into recycling and waste management, a big part of the packaging consumption issue should focus on comprehensive circular economy measures to eliminate the plastics we don’t need. From inception, the cardboard packaging makes sense. We do not need soft plastic to wrap our toilet paper. We deliver our toilet paper in FSC® cardboard cartons. We deliver our toilet paper in FSC® cardboard cartons which are recyclable at kerbside, as stated on recycle.co.nz:

“With 97% of New Zealanders having access to facilities to recycle paper. That and recycling rates for paper are higher than for plastics. “Clean paper and cardboard waste is easy to recycle, and it means fewer trees are felled.” 

Read more: What are PFAS and why are they in toilet paper? 

Broader environmental impact

What are the implications for forests, biodiversity, climate and resource use? Because with increasing population comes increased consumption and inevitable strain on natural resources. 

For us, it’s about appealing to people who already care, whether that is reducing waste, particularly plastics or those who care a lot about the chemicals that go into their cleaning products and other goods they use daily in their households. People raising children is another. 

The world requires new ideas, innovation and products that take less from Mother Earth. Because while it seems insignificant over a year, over a lifetime, our consumption adds up to either a practice that is less or more sustainable than it first appears. It’s paper, after all. We, the industry, recycle paper. But not toilet paper.

We’ve been fortunate that our subscribers are willing to pay a bit more per roll to help us achieve a shift from the mainstream toilet paper offering. And like other ecologically conscientious toilet paper companies, we are creating a growing, important market segment not dependent on trees. 

At the forest ecosystem level, bamboo can play a vital role in rehabilitating degraded land, as a timber substitute, for erosion control and watershed protection. Yet there remains an urgent need to recognise bamboo for its potential in carbon mitigation strategies and as a substitute for agroforestry or forest ecosystems.

Redefining toilet paper rankings and the relationship we have with a product we rarely think about

Not much has changed regarding toilet paper production since its inception. For us, it’s about appealing to people who already care, whether that is reducing waste, particularly plastics or those who care a lot about the chemicals that go into their cleaning products and other goods they use daily in their households. People raising children is another. The world requires new ideas, innovation and products that take less from Mother Earth. Because while it seems insignificant over a year, over a lifetime, our consumption adds up to either a practice that is less or more sustainable than it first appears. It’s paper, after all. We, the industry, recycle paper. But not toilet paper.