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The Best and Worst Toilet Paper, Paper Towel, and Facial Tissue Brands

NRDC: “Tissue paper production is taking a devastating toll on forests. NRDC’s newest Issue with Tissue report can help you find earth-friendly brands. Few people give much thought to how their toilet paper or other tissue products are made. So most of us probably don’t realize that the average American household uses more than 100 pounds of tissue paper annually—or that to make these paper products, companies are purchasing fiber that comes from trees logged in climate-critical forests. Our latest Issue with Tissue report and sustainability scorecard illuminate the serious environmental impacts that some of the most popular U.S. tissue brands are having on forests, as well as the steps consumers can take to make the most sustainable choices. Here’s where to start…U.S. consumers need only look north to see the effects of paper production on our environment. The world’s largest intact forest, the Canadian boreal, is being cut down at an alarming rate—more than 1 million acres per year—in part to feed consumer demand for paper products. And much of that demand comes from the United States. In 2022, it accounted for 65 percent of all of Canada’s pulp and paper exports, which are then used by some of the biggest household brands for everything from paper towels to toilet paper. The Canadian boreal’s trees, soils, and peatlands store massive amounts of carbon—gases that get released into the atmosphere when trees are cut down. A recent report by NRDC and our partners found that logging is the third-highest-emitting sector in Canada, behind only oil and gas production and the transportation sector. In addition to robbing the planet of one of its most important defenses against climate change, widespread industrial logging destroys and degrades wildlife habitat. In the boreal, it also threatens the lands and ways of life of more than 600 Indigenous communities…”

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