Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Toilet paper post: cleanup lap

photo by Pygo

I didn't realize when I posted about our cloth wipe adventures on Sunday that the New York Times had just printed an article about the very wastefulness of wiping one's ass with virgin timber. Here it is. (You might have to create a login to view the whole article, but it's free and they don't send you any spam.) An excerpt:
...fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests in Canada. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them.
The focus of the article is the switch to recycled toilet paper, but personally we feel like that's a distant second-best to not generating more paper waste at all by using cloth.

On a similar note, click here for a visual representation of the waste you can eliminate by switching from disposable menstrual products to a reusable cup like the Keeper. I have to say-- makes me miss mine a little bit!

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