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Whilst doing some research on the subject I came across the following quote on toiletpaperworld.com
"In the early 1970s, an EPA study for Congress concluded that using one ton of 100% recycled paper saves 4,100 kwh of energy (enough to power the average home for six months) and 7,000 gallons of water. It also keeps more than 60 pounds of pollution out of the air and saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, which is increasingly important as many local landfills near their capacity. Paper industry representatives have actually estimated that one ton of recycled paper saves approximately 17 trees."
I was quite shocked by this, firstly because I couldn't believe that there was a website devoted to toilet paper, but secondly by the size of the environmental benefits of recycled toilet paper.
If this is true then the energy savings alone would be reason enough to use recycled toilet paper, but together with savings on landfill, pollution and water usage then surely recycled toilet paper must be the choice of the environmentalist?
The saving of 17 trees sounds impressive too, but most of these trees would be from plantations which are of low biodiversity, so that is less important than perhaps it sounds. However, some of the pulp for toilet paper (including recycled toilet paper) comes from virgin forests, so any saving is lenghtening the lifetime of these forests.
However, there is the problem of bleaching in the process of making recycled toilet paper!
Still, this article suggests that there are real environmental benfits to using recycled toilet paper, just so long as one realises that using it does not mean that there is no environmental impact: Behind the label: Recycled Toilet Tissue.
"In the early 1970s, an EPA study for Congress concluded that using one ton of 100% recycled paper saves 4,100 kwh of energy (enough to power the average home for six months) and 7,000 gallons of water. It also keeps more than 60 pounds of pollution out of the air and saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, which is increasingly important as many local landfills near their capacity. Paper industry representatives have actually estimated that one ton of recycled paper saves approximately 17 trees."
I was quite shocked by this, firstly because I couldn't believe that there was a website devoted to toilet paper, but secondly by the size of the environmental benefits of recycled toilet paper.
If this is true then the energy savings alone would be reason enough to use recycled toilet paper, but together with savings on landfill, pollution and water usage then surely recycled toilet paper must be the choice of the environmentalist?
The saving of 17 trees sounds impressive too, but most of these trees would be from plantations which are of low biodiversity, so that is less important than perhaps it sounds. However, some of the pulp for toilet paper (including recycled toilet paper) comes from virgin forests, so any saving is lenghtening the lifetime of these forests.
However, there is the problem of bleaching in the process of making recycled toilet paper!
Still, this article suggests that there are real environmental benfits to using recycled toilet paper, just so long as one realises that using it does not mean that there is no environmental impact: Behind the label: Recycled Toilet Tissue.
1 comment:
This covers all the bases = saves you money, helps the environment, helps your health, makes you feel better, it's so easy to do and it costs less than $50.00; Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: "if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn't wipe it off with paper, would you? You'd wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won't even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It's cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You'll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won't know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways. Blog; THE BUTT OF TOO MANY JOKES;http://jeff9.livejournal.com/1603.html
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