Bamboo Toilet Paper: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Choose the Right Type
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Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about toilet paper — until they start looking into what’s really in it.
Traditional paper toilet tissue is produced from virgin wood pulp which means that large numbers of trees are destroyed by removing them from the environment. The Natural Resources Defence Council says the tissue industry in the United States is one of the largest users of virgin forest fibre materials in the world. This piece of information should be very hard to miss.
Bamboo toilet paper is becoming popular as an alternative product , not because it is trendy , but because bamboo grows differently than trees . Bamboo is fast growing, does not need replanting and produces a usable fibre that has less impact on the environment than traditional paper products. If you are a home looking to go greener or a manufacturer looking for bulk tissue products, knowing what bamboo toilet paper is made from and how it was processed, has been certified and what the quality differences are will help you make a decision that you will be happy with.
Why Bamboo as a Possible Raw Material?
Bamboo is a grass, not a tree. That distinction is more important than it sounds.
Regular toilet paper is made from hardwood trees that can take 20-80 years to grow up, while bamboo only takes three to five years. Some species of bamboo can grow even several feet a day! It also grows back after being cut from its own root system, which reduces soil disruption and stabilises the land.
Bamboo grows quickly, and so has a greater capacity than most trees to absorb CO2. So while it's not a direct path to carbon neutrality, working with raw bamboo has a lesser environmental impact than traditional sources of wood pulp.
Since bamboo toilet paper is composed of softer fibres than most conventional tissue, it can be easily manufactured into soft tissues without having a lot of heavy chemical processing done.
The terms bleached and unbleached often confuse people. Here’s their breakdown: Bleached bamboo toilet paper is whitened either chemically or naturally to achieve the bright white colour you normally see in this product. There are a number of ways in which the bamboo toilet paper is bleached, using different bleaching agents, which can affect the final look of the bamboo.
Most reputable manufacturers have moved to chlorine-free methods since bleaching with chlorine-based products creates harmful byproducts (dioxins) that remain in the ecosystem for many years. Elemental chlorine-free (ECF) chemicals are used for bleaching, which produces fewer dioxins than the chlorine method, but ECF still uses chlorine compounds. Bleaching with totally chlorine-free (TCF) methods uses alternative bleaching agents (hydrogen peroxide, ozone, etc.) and does not produce any dioxin as a result of the bleaching process, and TCF does not have any chlorine residues remaining on other bleached papers and wastewater.
When buying or looking for bleached bamboo toilet paper, it is important to ask what kind of bleaching method was used on the product, and if the supplier doesn’t know how to answer that question, keep looking for other options. Natural Bamboo Toilet Paper Bamboo toilet paper that has not been subjected to chemical whitening remains an uncoloured product – typically very light brown/beige in appearance; this result from not using any amount of bleach. Therefore there was less overall interest in using natural colour, consequently causing fewer chemicals used, generating less overall water produced from the industrial process, and producing overall shorter amounts of industrial waste materials being generated.
Some recycled paper products can be off-white in colour and this can make some purchasers unsure of the risk (this is different than standard tissue paper's bright white). However, the off-white colour does not affect the cleanliness, softness or how well the paper will work. The off-white colour is simply the result of paper not being chemically bleached to a certain visual standard or to match what has been established by habit rather than cleanliness. Unbleached paper is generally considered to have a lesser impact on the environment for households or businesses that are trying to do their part in reducing their carbon footprint or their chemical footprint.
FSC – Forest Stewardship Council. It is an independent nonprofit certification organization that establishes standards for responsible sourcing of forest and plant-based materials.
As for the definition of FSC bamboo toilet paper, FSC says the bamboo content is produced according to some standards by way of how the bamboo was produced, such as the following criteria identified for a sustainable supply chain: environmental, social, traceable. It is important to buy FSC certified bamboo toilet paper because: 1) there are many different ways to produce bamboo. There are some examples of how bamboo can be produced through the use of pesticides, monoculture methods of production and exploitative labour conditions. FSC certification offers a third party, independent verification so that consumers can be confident that they are buying bamboo that has been produced in accordance with a sustainable resource management plan.
Second, the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) label is protected by law. The label can be affixed to a product only if the product has been evaluated and approved by an auditor. FSC labelling, therefore, is more reliable than generic terms such as “eco-friendly” or “natural” that have no standardised definitions and cannot be enforced.
An increasing number of European and North American retail buyers and purchasing professionals are asking for tissue products for international trade from companies with an FSC certificate. Bamboo vs Recycled Paper Towels Both bamboo paper towels and recycled paper towels are more sustainable than other types made from brand-new virgin wood fibres, but these products serve different types of users.
Recycled tissue paper is a paper made from recycled paper either post-consumer or post-industry. This keeps the fibre in circulation rather than throwing it away in a landfill . This helps reduce the amount of solid waste in landfills . However, recycled tissue papers might be de-inked before recycling and as recycled paper is recycled over time, the fibre quality will degrade slightly each time it is recycled leading to less softness and less strength.
Bamboo pulp uses a fresh, new fibre (virgin) to make tissue paper instead of an old, recycled fibre (container or repurposed) which leads to greater strength/toughness, reduced chemical impact (deinked) and softer feel overall.
Generally, bamboo makes a better tissue product than recycled tissue – a consistent, top quality tissue that is also greener than the average wood pulp. When it comes to keeping as much waste out of landfills as possible, recycled tissue does a better job of that than bamboo.
Some toilet paper made from bamboo is made of pure bamboo, some is made of recycled paper, and some is a combination of both. This is a way that you get to have the best of both worlds (bamboo and recycled materials).
Questions to Ask Before Buying or Sourcing Bamboo Toilet Paper Are you using bamboo toilet paper for personal use or are you buying it for your business? Here are some specific questions you could ask to find high quality suppliers versus suppliers who don’t offer any specifics:
1. Bleaching process for the product?
TCF preferred. The halogen content of ECF is within acceptable limits. Avoid chlorine based bleaching processes.
2. FSC Certified?
Ask to see the certificate number – don’t just take the logo at face value.
3. What source of bamboo?
The country and growing area will provide a better assessment of supply chain risk (country level assessments will vary).
4. What are the weight, ply, sheet count specifications?
These will impact costs as well as performance when used in commercial environments. Minimum order quantities and lead times Important for companies managing their inventories. If a supplier can answer these questions clearly, and without ambiguity relative to marketing language, then they are likely to be a good source of supply.
Conclusion
Bamboo toilet paper is a great viable alternative to traditional toilet tissue made from softwood pulp. The reasons are simple and obvious: fast growing, no need for replanting (regeneration) and excellent fibre properties suitable for toilet tissue manufacture without extensive additional processes.
The specific features of sustainable manufacturing, such as sourcing material from a specific chain of custody (FSC Certification) or the actual quality of the product (such as bamboo), allow consumers to differentiate between real and fake sustainable products. Consumers should spend a few minutes asking a few simple questions to find out whether they are buying an item that they feel comfortable with or one that has been well marketed but most likely will not meet their needs in terms of sustainability.
At Jade Light Paper, we provide wholesale customers with high quality, competitively priced, sustainably sourced bamboo pulp and recycled tissue products bleached and unbleached. We offer our bamboo pulp and tissue products in a range of sheet sizes, weights, colours and finishes for all your business needs.
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