Your favourite brand of toilet paper may be cut from an important Canadian forest
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A new report details which Canadian toilet paper brands are using wood fibre from the country's boreal forest. Where does your toilet paper brand rank in terms of sustainability?
A U.S.-based non-profit advocacy group is pushing toilet paper manufacturers to stop using Canada's boreal forest as a resource.
The Natural Resources Defense Council recently released a report on manufacturers that it says are using what it calls virgin forests -- previously untouched forests (sometimes called old-growth forests) -- as a resource for toilet paper.
CTVNews.ca reached out to the toilet paper manufacturers mentioned in the report to understand sustainability goals and how the industry is adapting to the changing climate. But experts say these big companies need to do more by shifting toilet paper away from forests to more sustainable options.
In the 2022 report titled the "Issue with Tissue", the NRDC ranked popular toilet paper brands based on sustainability and eco-friendly ingredients.
The group claims the majority of popular brands in Canada and the U.S. are using wood fibre and pulp from the Canadian boreal forest, alleging that this practice leads to the destruction of ecosystems and decreases the carbon-capturing power of trees. Wood pulp and fibre is a co-product of the logging industry which harvests trees from Canada's boreal forest.
The boreal forest covers 270 million hectares of which Spruce, Fir, Pine and Tamarack trees are most common. Canada's boreal forest is 28 per cent of the world's boreal zone and it is integral to the health of the planet by purifying the air and regulating the climate.
The NRDC alleges Canada uses one method to harvest trees called clear-cutting, which is the practice of removing a large area of forest at one time.
