The short version

When we say 1 million trees a day, we mean it as a conservative industry-wide estimate. Sharing the right information matters to us, so we commissioned an independent environmental company to work out how many trees are cut down each day to make traditional toilet paper. 

Their full report sets out that if every toilet paper product on the market were made using virgin trees, 1.9 million trees would need to be felled every day to meet global demand. We know there are products on the market that use alternatives (like ours), but we don’t know the exact market share for those alternatives. Rather than overstate the impact, we’ve taken a conservative view - we assume just over half the world’s wipers use traditional virgin tree-based toilet paper, which gives us the 1 million figure. 

The figure is industry-wide and isn’t a Who Gives A Crap-specific number. We calculate the equivalent number of trees we “save” (trees that would be cut down to make traditional toilet paper, which aren’t because we use bamboo or recycled paper) through our products separately, using the same underlying methodology. 

The detail

The methodology 

The figure is calculated using a tree equivalences methodology commissioned from an independent environmental company. The inputs are:

• Reference tree: Softwood pine, which is commonly used to make toilet paper. We use the average size of a commercial softwood pine, harvested at 12 to 15 years old, around 7 inches (18 centimetres) wide and 40 feet (just over 12 metres) tall. 
• Pulping method: Chemical pulping via the kraft process, which is the dominant pulping method for tissue.
• Forest density: 954 trees per hectare, which is the average density for commercial forests. 
• Conversion: We calculate how much pulp a single tree of that size produces, and how much toilet paper that pulp produces, then divide global virgin tissue volume by that figure to get a daily tree equivalent. 

The conservative assumption

The full theoretical figure (1.9 million trees a day) assumes every toilet paper product globally is made from virgin trees. In reality, some products use recycled fibre, bamboo or other alternatives. We don’t have a precise market share figure for those alternatives, so rather than overstate the impact, we’ve taken a deliberately conservative view. We assume just over half the world’s toilet paper is made from virgin trees, which gives us 1 million trees a day. 

How we use the figure

We use 1 million trees a day to communicate the scale of our toilet paper industry's reliance on virgin trees. We don't use it to claim that we, on our own, prevent that number of trees from being felled. Our individual impact (the equivalent number of trees “saved” through our products) is reported separately, using the same underlying methodology applied to the volume of product we’ve sold.

How we calculate trees saved

The trees-saved figure we report alongside our impact data is built on the same methodology. The logic is straightforward: for each product we sell that’s made from recycled paper or bamboo, one less traditional product needs to be made to meet demand, so fewer trees need to be cut down.

To turn that into a number, we take the volume of product we’ve sold and apply the same tree equivalences methodology to work out how many trees would have needed to be felled to make an equivalent volume of traditional toilet paper. That gives us our “trees-saved” figure.

Because we can’t know with certainty how many trees would have otherwise been felled for a specific product (or in fact, if there were fewer trees felled), we describe this as the equivalent number of trees, rather than a literal count. The same softwood pine reference, kraft pulping process, and 954 trees per hectare density are used in that calculation. 

The full report

In the interests of transparency, the full independent report is publicly available. 

What’s coming

The tissue industry has shifted since we first commissioned this work, and keeping the information current is important to us. We are actively working on updated information that reflects where things are today, and we will share this refreshed picture when it’s ready.

Yup, and this is the conservative number.

Sharing the correct information is really important to us, so we commissioned an independent report from an environmental company to help work out how many trees are cut down each day for TP.

Again, in the interests of full transparency, here is that report in full.

The report sets this out in more detail, but to meet the global demand for toilet paper, 1.9 million trees per day would need to be cut down. This number would be if every toilet paper product on the market were made using virgin trees (eg, new trees were being cut down just to make TP).

We know there are products on the market that use alternative sources (like us!), but we don’t know the exact market share for those alternatives. Based on our knowledge of the industry, and living and breathing toilet paper for the past decade (not literally. We would support ‘living’ toilet paper, but not ‘breathing’ it), we’ve been super conservative and assumed that just over half the world’s wipers use traditional toilet paper.

Oof, that’s a big number.

Why do we care about this? Check out is traditional toilet paper really that bad for the environment?