The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
Margie Kelly mkelly@nrdc.org , 541-222-9699;
Jeff Salzgeber jeff@radiantmediagroup.com, 512-743-2659
WASHINGTON – The 2022 Issue with Tissue report and sustainability scorecard (grading at-home toilet paper brands from “A” to “F”) released today by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), reveals that more companies are bringing sustainable tissue options to the market than ever before, offering consumers alternatives to products sourced from the climate-critical Canadian boreal forest.
Yet America’s top toilet paper maker, Procter & Gamble (P&G), resolutely refuses to stop making Charmin with large volumes of pulp from the boreal, despite shareholder directives to address forest supply chain impacts, and rapidly growing consumer interest in purchasing toilet paper and tissue brands that are not complicit in clearcutting the last forests untouched by industrial logging.
“Industry laggards like P&G are fueling a tree-to-toilet pipeline that is flushing away some of the most environmentally important – and threatened – forests in the world,” said Jennifer Skene, NRDC’s Natural Climate Solutions Policy Manager. “The primary forests of the boreal – those areas that have never before been industrially disturbed – must be protected if we’re going to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change. Turning them into toilet paper is a climate crime, especially when done by the very companies that most need to step up to protect our future,” Skene said.
Many major toilet paper brands – most notably, Procter & Gamble’s Charmin – are made almost exclusively from virgin pulp from climate-critical, centuries-old forests in the Canadian boreal. The boreal forest is essential in the fight against climate change, holding more than 300 billion tons of climate-altering carbon – twice as much carbon as the world’s oil reserves – in its soils, plants, and wetlands. The boreal also holds immense value for Indigenous Peoples and threatened species.
More than 1 million acres of the Canadian boreal forest are clear-cut each year – in part to make the ultimate disposable, single-use item: toilet paper. Toilet paper made with recycled content has one-third the carbon footprint of toilet paper made from trees.
For this year’s Issue with Tissue report and scorecard, NRDC evaluated the sustainability of 60 toilet paper brands. The top three major American tissue makers – Procter & Gamble (P&G), Kimberly-Clark, and Georgia-Pacific – earned “F” scores across each of their flagship brands like Charmin, Cottonelle, and Quilted Northern.
However, for the first time ever, Georgia-Pacific secured a “B+” score in NRDC’s report, for a 100 percent recycled content toilet paper brand now available online directly to consumers; Kimberly-Clark made this same move last year. These developments, although minimal and incremental, leave P&G last among the largest American tissue companies to still receive straight “F” scores across all of its tissue brands, including Charmin, Puffs, and Bounty.
“P&G’s Charmin brand has become a relic that’s completely misaligned with the urgency of the climate crisis we face,” said Ashley Jordan, NRDC’s Boreal Corporate Campaign Coordinator. “Newer toilet paper companies are investing in products that provide healthy options for consumers and the planet. P&G, a $350 billion corporation, has the potential to show real leadership by making Charmin planet-safe. Our forests and our future depends on it,” said Jordan.
As part of its research, NRDC found that P&G was product testing a new toilet paper called Charmin Ultra Eco made with bamboo, now available to consumers online. P&G confirmed the testing, but did not commit to bringing the product to a wider market or commit to a long-term strategy to stop sourcing from climate-critical forests.
In 2020, a majority of P&G’s shareholders supported a resolution calling for the company to determine how it could eliminate deforestation and primary forest degradation from its supply chains. However, P&G has failed to make significant changes to its tissue sourcing, instead even more aggressively employing climate denial and greenwashing tactics to hide its harm to forests and communities.
Key Findings of the Issue with Tissue 2022 report include:
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC
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