Help reduce deforestation

Updated
TL;DR: We don't use virgin tree pulp in any of our products. The dominant industry alternatives, softwood from boreal forests and plantation eucalyptus (1, 6), both come with documented deforestation and land use harms (9, 4, 5). By using only 100% recycled paper or 100% bamboo, we reduce our contribution to the demand that drives deforestation, both legal and illegal (10).

The short version

Much of the world's toilet paper is made from virgin trees (11). That means logging forests, often boreal forests in Canada and Russia (9, 4) or plantation eucalyptuses in places like Brazil (1, 6). Both have well-documented climate, biodiversity, and community impacts (9, 4, 5).

We chose a different path right from the start. Every paper product we sell is made from either 100% recycled paper or 100% bamboo, neither of which requires us to cut down any new virgin trees.

When we say our products help reduce deforestation, we mean it in two ways. First, the demand for virgin tree pulp drives forest harvest (9, 4, 5). By not contributing to that demand, we don't add to the pressure on the world's forests. Second, by going further than what the law requires (sustainable forestry rules permit significant tree harvest) (10), we set a higher bar for our category.

The detail

Why deforestation matters in toilet paper

The toilet paper industry is a major consumer of virgin wood pulp (1, 9). Around 14% of boreal forest logging in Ontario alone is destined for pulp used to make tissue products (2). Boreal forests are critical to global carbon sequestration and storage (8). Research shows that intensive management, including clear-cut logging, significantly reduces the carbon storage capacity of these forests (8).

Plantation eucalyptus is the other dominant virgin fibre for tissue production (1, 6). In Brazil alone, the world’s largest hardwood pulp producer, capacity for breached non-coniferous sulphate pulp (predominantly eucalyptus) reached 22.9 million tonnes in 2023, and at October 2024 was forecast to reach 25.2 million tonnes by 2025, compared to just 0.6 million tonnes of softwood pulp capacity in the same year (6). 

Choosing to source recycled fibre or bamboo means we don't draw on either of these supply chains.

What we use instead

Our paper products are made from one of two materials. 100% recycled paper sourced from post-consumer waste, or 100% bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing grass that the FSC® classifies as a non-timber forest product (7). It reaches maturity in 3-5 years, compared with 10-20 years for softwood, and regrows from established rootstock without replanting (3). Our cores are 100% recycled paperboard, and our wrappers are 100% bamboo. Our entire product range, including packaging, contains no virgin tree fibre.

Going beyond legal compliance

Sustainable forestry rules set a legal floor for our category. Producers must avoid illegally harvested timber and meet sustainable forestry compliance standards (10). Those standards still permit significant tree harvest, and they apply to every producer in the market. 

Our position goes beyond that floor. We don't use virgin tree pulp at all, which is not required of any toilet paper producer. The benefit we describe when we say our products help reduce deforestation comes from that choice, not from compliance with a baseline that every other producer also has to meet.

FSC chain of custody

Our supply chain is FSC certified end to end, with the chain of custody audited annually by an independent third party. FSC certification gives us assurance that the tissue we source meets responsible forestry standards (7).

Independent sources

If you want to dig further, the following independent sources cover the broader picture of toilet paper and deforestation.

  1. Brito et al. (2023). "Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Premium and Ultra Hygiene Tissue Products in the United States." BioResources, 18 (2), 4006 to 4031. Documents that conventional US hygiene tissue is dominantly produced from Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft (BEK) and Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK), with finished tissue GWP ranging from 1,392 to 3,075 kgCO2eq per metric ton.
  2. Center for Sustainable Economy. A Preliminary Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Clearcut Logging on the Trout Lake and Wabigoon Concessions, Ontario, Canada (John Talberth, June 2025). Full report: https://www.sustainable-economy.org/boreal-forests-down-the-toilet
  3. There is some research showing that the 10 to 20 year softwood rotation may be an underestimation of the global average, for example, Vanha-Majamaa, I. and Jalonen, J. (2001). "Managing forest harvesting to maintain old growth in boreal forests." The Forestry Chronicle, 75(4), pp. 623 to 627, which suggests industrial timber rotations in British Columbia could take 80 to 120 years.
  4. Environmental Paper Network. Boreal Forests Down the Toilet (July 2025). Sets out the role of the tissue industry in boreal forest loss. https://environmentalpaper.org/2025/07/boreal-forests-down-the-toilet-new-report-documents-the-climate-consequences-of-clearcutting-canadas-vanishing-forests-for-tissue-paper-and-paper-towels/
  5. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Forest Resources Assessment 2020 and FAO Manual on Deforestation, Degradation, and Fragmentation. The international reference points for what counts as deforestation versus degradation. https://www.fao.org/interactive/forest-resources-assessment/2020/en/
  6. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pulp and Paper Capacities, Survey 2023 to 2025 (October 2024). https://doi.org/10.4060/cd2190t
  7. Forest Stewardship Council. Other Forest Products including bamboo classification as a non-timber forest product. https://fsc.org/en/businesses/other-forest-products
  8. Islam et al. (2024). "Projected effects of climate change and forest management on carbon fluxes and biomass of a boreal forest." Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 349, 109959. Specifically, the finding that nearly 70% of European boreal forests are intensively managed, and that biomass C for reforestations is projected to be 57 to 67% lower in 2100 than in the old forest in 2022.
  9. Natural Resources Defense Council and Stand. Earth. The Issue with Tissue (7th edition, December 2025). Independent scorecard of toilet paper, tissue and paper towel brands against deforestation and climate criteria. https://www.nrdc.org/resources/issue-tissue
  10. Regulatory framework on sustainable forestry: UK Timber Regulation (Timber and Timber Products Placing on the Market Regulations 2013); Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012; FSC chain of custody standards (which permit virgin tree use under sustainable forestry compliance).
  11. Who Gives A Crap commissioned an environmental sustainability report on the global toilet paper industry. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IOBDcixSgD5Lgz2gT3UmPb0i4EIvI4bs/view
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