Plastic-Free Toilet Paper – The UK Brands Reviewed
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Looking for the best plastic-free toilet paper? I’ve rated some of the most popular toilet roll brands in terms of how sustainable and eco-friendly they are. Read on!
I get lots of emails a day. Lately, many of them seem to be on the topic of bums. Specifically, on which is the best plastic-free and sustainable toilet paper for our bums and the environment.
I’ve got young kids, so I’m used to speaking about bums on a very regular, sometimes too regular basis. Frankly, it’s refreshing to be asked about the environmental credentials of toilet paper. I’d rather that than field such classic questions as “Mum, why do we fart” and “Mum, where does poo come from”.
When it comes to loo roll, there’s much more to think about than just how soft a roll is. There are in fact a whole host of environmental and social factors of toilet paper to consider. From what the paper is made of, to where it’s made, how it’s packaged, and how it got to your bathroom.
Over the past few years, my family and I have tried out heaps of different plastic-free toilet rolls. Let’s dive in and take a look at the environmental credentials of the various sustainable toilet paper brands available in the UK.
Guide To The Best Sustainable & Plastic-Free Toilet Paper
To help you find the best plastic-free toilet paper in the UK, I’ve tried and tested four different eco-friendly brands. I’ve looked at everything you need to know – from cost, to roll length, softness, and more, to help you find the best brand for you. Use the quick links to jump to information about each brand, or keep scrolling to read the full post:
Please note, the prices are correct as of February 2025.
Greencane
- Cost: £35.80 for a box of 48 rolls (75p per roll)
- UK shipping cost: £6
- Total cost (box plus shipping): £41.80 (87p per roll)
- Made from: Bamboo
- Roll size: 300 sheets per roll
- Ply: 2-ply
- Cost per 100 sheets: 25p excluding shipping / 29p including shipping
- Made in/ships from: Southern Asia
- Packaged in: Cardboard Box, rolls arrive ‘naked’
- FSC-Certified: No
- Chlorine-free: Yes
- Supports good causes: Not sure. Greencane sponsors an organisation called Restorative Forestry but it is not clear from the Restorative Forestry website what this organisation actually does.
- Available: direct from Greencane
Greencane was my very first foray into plastic-free toilet paper back in 2019. I ordered a box and was delighted when, a few days later, a box of 48 toilet rolls arrived unwrapped in a cardboard box. I loved the fact that the box was sealed with paper tape. The only plastic that I found was a small bit of plastic on the outside of the box containing the invoice.
The only thing I hadn’t accounted for was the fact that 48 toilet rolls would be arriving on my doorstep. Compared to the pack of 9 toilet rolls that I was buying beforehand, I hadn’t anticipated what 48 rolls would actually look like. As we have a small house with limited storage, we had to get a bit creative when it came to storage!
Greencane isn’t the softest toilet paper I’ve ever tried. It’s no 3-ply quilted luxury loo roll. But then again, it’s not scratchy. It feels a little thinner compared to other brands I’ve tried, but I’ve had no complaints from any of my family.
What’s Greencane Made Of?
Greencane toilet paper is made from 100% bamboo.
Greencane does bleach its toilet paper to make it white. However, Greencane does say that it doesn’t use chlorine in the bleaching process. Frustratingly, it doesn’t say what it uses in its place. Instead, Greencane ambiguously states “The key detail with our paper is that we do not use chlorine-based bleaches“.
How Long Does A Greencane Box Last?
As the rolls are longer, we were pleasantly surprised to find that – as a family of four – our box lasted around 4 months. This was before my partner and I both started working from home on a full-time basis, so note that it’s hard to compare to the brand we currently use.
Wendy’s Rating
I would rate Greencane 6/10. I like that the rolls last a long time, and I love that the rolls are plastic-free and don’t come with any excess packaging. My family also had zero complaints about the softness or the ply. However, I don’t like that the rolls have to travel so far – adding to its carbon footprint – and that Greencane makes its toilet roll from virgin materials. I also have questions about the organisation that Greencane supports – the website is very opaque.
Serious Tissues
- Cost: £42.50 for a box of 45 rolls (94p per roll) / 10% discount if you set up a recurring subscription
- UK shipping cost: Free
- Total cost (box plus shipping): £42.50 (94p per roll)
- Made from: Recycled paper
- Roll size: 250 sheets per roll
- Ply: 2-ply
- Cost per 100 sheets: 38p
- Made in/ships from: The UK
- Packaged in: Cardboard Box, rolls arrive ‘naked’
- FSC-Certified: Yes
- Chlorine-free: Yes
- Supports good causes: Yes – Serious Tissues plants a tree for every box of plastic-free toilet paper sold.
- Available: direct from Serious Tissues.
We’ve been using Serious Tissues for quite a few years now, and I think it’s one of my favourite plastic-free brands. I set up a 3-monthly subscription (getting 10% off each order in the process), and so quarterly a box arrives in the post with zero plastic packaging. It’s all completely automated, so I don’t even have to remember to re-order: the toilet paper just arrives, which is a total blessing.
My family and I like using Serious Tissues. No one complains about the softness or quality – I personally think it’s one of the softer brands I’ve tried despite being just 2-ply. The box used to be smaller – I think we got 36 toilet rolls – but now it’s been upped to 45 rolls and is even better value than before.
What Are Serious Tissues Made Of?
Serious Tissues are made in the UK from post-consumer use recycled paper. The waste paper comes from things such as magazines, newspapers, promotional materials, packaging, boxes and office documents. Serious Tissues uses a non-chlorine-based reducing agent to make its toilet roll white, however doesn’t say what alternative it uses.
How Long Does A Serious Tissues Box Last?
Serious Tissues has only just this month switched us over to a 45 roll box rather than a 36 roll box, so I don’t know at this moment in time exactly how long the new bigger box will last.
The 36 roll box tended to last us about two and half months (note that we’ve been working exclusively from home since switching to Serious Tissues, so it’s hard to compare to other brands we used). I’ll update here in a few months to let you know how we’re getting on with the larger sized box.
Wendy’s Rating
I’d rate Serious Tissues 9/10. The rolls are lovely and soft, yet strong, and get the thumbs up from all of us. I love that the rolls are made in the UK from recycled paper, don’t come with any excess packaging, and ship entirely plastic-free. I also love that Serious Tissues plants a tree with every purchase, helping reforestation projects across the globe. All in all, it feels like a really low-impact toilet roll.
I’ve been using them continuously for several years now and don’t have plans to stop any time soon. I only deducted a point a I wish the rolls were just that little bit cheaper.
Who Gives A Crap
- Cost: £44 for a box of 48 rolls (92p per roll)
- UK shipping cost: Free on orders over £20
- Total cost (box plus shipping): £44 (92p per roll)
- Made from: Recycled paper (bamboo options also available)
- Roll size: 400 sheets per roll
- Ply: 3-ply
- Cost per 100 sheets: 23p
- Made in/ships from: China
- Packaged in: Cardboard Box, rolls arrive individually wrapped in paper
- FSC-Certified: Yes
- Chlorine-free: Yes
- Supports good causes: Yes – Who Gives A Crap donates 50% of its profits to help build toilets for people who need them.
- Available: from Who Gives A Crap
For this review, I bought a couple of rolls in a zero-waste shop in Edinburgh. However, then my workplace at the time started using Who Give A Crap, so I got to use the paper on a more regular basis. This allowed me to get to know the brand a bit better.
To be very honest, I am not the biggest fan of Who Gives A Crap. I do deeply admire the charitable giving nature of Who Gives A Crap. And of course, I love the plastic-free element. What doesn’t sit well with me is the fact that each roll of toilet paper is individually wrapped. That’s a lot of unnecessary paper from one box of 48 toilet rolls.
The Problem With Excess Packaging
Paper, whilst plastic-free, isn’t environmentally neutral. A study a few years ago showed that a paper bag has to be reused four times before it’s more environmentally friendly (in terms of carbon emissions) than a plastic bag. Who Gives A Crap customers do say they reuse the paper wrappers to light their fires, or to wrap gifts sustainably. Yet getting four uses out of each toilet paper wrapper is likely to be a stretch.
Who Gives A Crap says that the individual wrappers are for both hygiene reasons and to keep the paper moisture-free. However, if Greencane and Serious Tissues can manage it – I’ve not noticed any problems in seven years of using unwrapped loo rolls – then it feels a bit of a hollow excuse.
Is There More To It?
I had a feeling there was probably more to it, then I found the answer in the Who Gives A Crap FAQ:
“We think they look cute. They work wonders as an online product because they’re eye-catching and shareable. We know this because our customers are constantly sharing snaps of their deliveries on social media, and gifting rolls to friends. This is really important because the more people share what we’re doing, the more we can grow and the more toilet-building and sanitation projects we can fund! (plus, it’s cheaper than paid advertising)“.
So what they are saying is that individually wrapped rolls are a marketing and money-making decision, framed as a fundraising decision. Businesses, have to be profitable to be viable. However, I think other planet-friendly advertising options exist that don’t require every single roll to be individually wrapped in paper.
How Long Does A Box Of Who Give A Crap Last?
There is also the argument that because Who Gives A Crap’s plastic-free toilet paper is double-length, you need to buy a lot less. Its loo roll may have a reduced environmental impact in that sense.
As I haven’t purchased a full box before, I did a highly scientific poll on Instagram. Here I asked Moral Fibres followers who used Who Gives A Crap a) how big their family is and b) how long a box has lasted them.
I received a load of responses (thank you if you responded). On average a box lasted a family of four around 5-6 months.
What About The Quality?
In terms of quality, I didn’t notice a huge difference between Who Gives A Crap 3-ply paper, compared to the others, which are all 2-ply. The paper didn’t feel any softer or harder than the others either.
Wendy’s Rating
I would rate Who Gives A Crap 5/10. The toilet roll may be longer, so you have to buy less. However, I dislike how far its products have to travel to get here – even the recycled paper option is made in China. Something else I really dislike is how each toilet roll is individually wrapped. It seems like such a wasteful approach. I do like the charitable aspect though. However, it’s important to remember that you can cut the middleman. You can donate directly to clean water charities such as Water Aid so that they get 100% of your donation.
Ecoleaf
- Cost: £7.35 for a pack of 9 rolls (82p per roll)
- UK shipping cost: £4.95 / Free on orders over £50
- Total cost (pack plus shipping): £12.30 (£1.37 per roll)
- Made from: Recycled paper
- Roll size: 240 sheets per roll
- Ply: 2-ply
- Cost per 100 sheets: 34p excluding shipping / 57p including shipping
- Made in/ships from: The UK
- Packaged in: Recycled paper
- FSC-Certified: No
- Chlorine-free: Yes
- Supports good causes: Yes – Suma is a worker’s co-operative, where everyone gets equal pay and an equal say in how the organisation is run.
- Available: from Ethical Superstore.
Ecoleaf toilet paper is made in the UK from 100% recycled fibre sourced exclusively from the UK. Suma, the worker’s cooperative that produces Ecoleaf, has a long history of ethical trading. Impressively, Suma also has an equal pay policy for workers.
I’ve tried this toilet paper out, and find it neither super soft nor scratchy. I thought the paper was a little on the thinner size, but there were zero complaints from my family. In the end, it worked out too expensive for us to keep using this sustainable loo roll on a regular basis so I didn’t return to it after the initial pack I bought ran out.
What’s EcoLeaf Packaged In?
I tried out EcoLeaf back in 2019, when it came packaged in a compostable bag made from a material called PLA (see my post on what PLA is for more info). Hence, my photo shows the loo roll in a bag. However, The bag wasn’t home-compostable. Thankfully, things have changed. Suma now packages its toilet roll sustainably in recycled paper that’s fully recyclable at home.
As well as a pack of 9, you can buy Ecoleaf toilet paper in a better-value pack of 12. However, it’s important to note that this comes in a plastic bag so isn’t a zero-waste option.
What’s EcoLeaf Made Of?
EcoLeaf is made in the UK solely from recycled paper. Suma says it is bleach-free and free from dioxins and chlorine. The loo roll is also free from BPA, optical brighteners, inks, dyes, and chemicals.
How Long Does A Pack Of EcoLeaf Last?
A 9-pack of EcoLeaf toilet paper lasted around two weeks for my family of four.
Wendy’s Rating
I’d rate EcoLeaf 7/10. I love that it’s made in the UK from recycled paper, and I love that Suma has switched to wrapping the loo roll in recycled paper rather than the industrially compostable bag. I did feel it was a lot more expensive compared to other options though, so it wasn’t something I thought was feasible for our household. If I could buy it locally, it would work out considerably cheaper, but it’s not something I can often find in my local shops.
Need A Side-By-Side Comparison?
Here’s a side-by-side comparison shot of Who Gives A Crap, Greencane and Ecoleaf toilet paper so you can do a visual comparison. I hope to be able to update this to add in Serious Tissues at some point – I’ll see what I can do!
Other Plastic-Free Toilet Paper Options
If none of these options sounds particularly environmentally friendly to you then there is the reusable route. Sometimes this is ‘delightfully’ known as ‘the family cloth‘. It’s not an option I’ve ever been able to convince my family to get on board with, but perhaps you might have better luck!
Alternatively, you could install a bidet. It may not be for everyone, but bidets dramatically reduce your environmental impact by minimising paper usage. Additionally, the water used in bidets is substantially less than what’s required for paper production. Again, it’s not something I’ve been able to get my family on board with, but maybe your family may be more amenable to the idea!
Have you found other types of sustainable toilet paper that you like? Or do you use family cloth or a bidet?
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Hi, will you make a new updated version of this article, please? There are now bumboo and naked sprout.
There’s also an error under ecoleaf, which seems to have copied the text from Who gives a crap in the bullet point list re social responsibility.
Thanks for spotting that error! I’ve just corrected that now! I do hope to update this article soon. I’m not a big fan of bamboo toilet paper – it travels so far to get to us, for us to use it once and flush down the loo – so I probably won’t try Bumboo, but I am keen to try Naked Sprout’s recycled toilet paper. I notice that it’s made in Spain, not in the UK though, so I think it would be hard to beat Serious Tissues!
Excellent article thank you. I read to see if there were any companies I wasnt aware of. However, I wanted to mention Bazoo. We’ve been using them for a few years, they are great quality, you can get bamboo toilet roll individually wrapped or you can opt for the plain ones as we do. You can choose white or natural. They work with the Rainforest alliance, plastic free, UK based and cost 25p/100 sheets.
Thanks so much for the recommendation Jen – I’ll look out for them!
I would’ve thought plastic/ chemicals are used in the ink/ manufacturing process of the magazines etc that get recycled as paper for loo roll…?
Hi Felicity, it’s true that recycled toilet paper can sometimes contain small amounts of a chemical known as BPA – this tends to get there because of people recycling receipts . The amounts involved are incredibly tiny – milligram-per-gram amounts – but despite this most (myself included) consider recycled paper as the most sustainable choice as it helps preserve old growth forests, protect animal habitats, keeps water clean and saves on energy.
Really useful article, thank you Wendy. I’ve come across it as I’m actually looking for sustainable loo roll that won’t clog up the septic tank, which is much more difficult to find than I was expecting. Over the last couple of years we’ve tried Naked Sprout, Bumboo and Who Gives a Crap? I *had* settled on Naked Sprout as I liked the fact that each roll wasn’t individually wrapped (which massively put me off WGAC), the rolls were bigger and better value than the Bumboo ones, and it’s not bleached, which seems to be a pointless waste of damaging chemicals. However, when I had the septic tank pumped out this morning and got the chap to lift the manhole covers to check the flow runs, it turned out that these were completely clogged with loo roll, which just isn’t breaking down as usual. We already knew that premium brands and quilted toilet roll was a disaster but hadn’t anticipated that bamboo would be equally problematic. So, I’m going to try Ecoleaf and see how we get on…
Someone wrote me an email recently to say that some toilet rolls have gelatine in them, and that’s why those ones don’t break down so easily. I don’t know if Naked Sprout does contain gelatine, but from what I have read, Ecoleaf definitely does not have gelatine in it, so hopefully you should be ok with your septic tank! It’s definitely a topic for a whole other post on loo roll, as the gelatine used by some brands is derived from animals.
A really informative post that I sadly read after I bought from WGAP. I did however mention on the customer survey to WGAC my concerns about the paper wrapping and received a reply:
“We individually wrap our toilet paper rolls in such colourful paper because we want to encourage customers to share photos on social media, and gift rolls to friends who haven’t heard of us. This has been a vital aspect of our growth as a company, especially when we had next to no marketing budget, and having the brand name/imagery front and centre is a must.”
It sadly looks like another greenwash company!
Fortunately however, the market is expanding all the time and I have found https://serioustissues.com/pages/about which looks good (and you can order 18 rolls without pushing the cost up).
Yup, that’s my conclusion with WGAC. However, I’ve been working on an updated article to this one, that I hope to publish very shortly. So far I have been very impressed with Serious Tissues.
Hi Sue, great timing, I just added an updated version of this post, and I’ve included Serious Tissues in it! https://moralfibres.co.uk/guide-to-plastic-free-eco-friendly-toilet-roll/
Has anyone rated The Cheerful Choice yet? A seemingly EU-based replacement for WHAC – thoughts?
I haven’t heard of them, but just looked them up. Loving the ridiculous testimonials on their website: “As a famous Dutch singer I only use the 3-layer toilet roll from The Good Roll”. :D :D
I think we need a comparison site for toilet paper now, all seems to have their pros and cons and hard to know what to choose. have you heard about Naked Sprout? It seems to be UK based, but not sure if they ship from somewhere else. Supports just a drop charity, but does not look cheap at £23.50 for 24 rolls.
It’s so difficult, isn’t it Stacey?!
I’ve just spent 3 hours looking into just a couple of brands, I even started a spreadsheet! Come on here and more are thrown at me. It’s so difficult to weigh up what aligns most with my own developing ethics. I want to support UK business in recycling our own waste to close the loop…but it comes in plastic…but then lower environmental impacts, right?!
I look to unbleached bamboo, like Naked Sprout you mentioned, but they’ve got to get their bamboo from China, surely?! The same with WGAC, but their recycled waste is also sourced from China (I’m guessing that the UK probably shipped our waste there in the first place) And yeah, it might come in zero-plastic but then Wendy highlights issues within the supply chain that are out of their control and increases emissions. But then NS and WGAC donate to charities that are changing lives on the ground, and the Zero Waste Club plant a load of trees or off-set carbon emissions.
These brands also often have enticing FREE delivery on orders over £20, unlike Ethical Superstore where it’s unlikely that my order will reach £50 every time to qualify which increases the cost per sheet of the TP to more than WGAC and you actually get less for the extra!
AaAaaarrrgh, it’s a consumer ethical minefield for sure and it’s over TP ffs (laughing-crying).
One thing I’ve pinned down (which I knew from the start) is that I can safely say that virgin trees and bamboo are a no for me.
Think I’m going to go with Ecoleaf first, but buy two packs in one go and cringe as I use the plastic as a bin liner before putting it in the landfill waste bin. At least I know it’s from the UK using UK waste which will bring about a demand for this type of infrastructure – however, would love to know how they get it so white without bleach.
I will also be looking into BoxRoll as it seems VERY up my street. There is a minimum order of 3 boxes of 24 rolls, so not sure where I am going to store 72 rolls. Apparently all 3 boxes come to £39.40 which makes it about 18p/100 sheets. However, there is no mention of P&P, also not sure on the date of the blog post so the price might not be accurate.
Great, informative post! We have tried all three but like you we struggle with the idea of making and shipping a recycled product all the way from Asia and have settled on ecoleaf – your blog just confirmed this so thanks! Out of interest do you use the ethical superstore much? I have only just discovered it and it has a really good selection – if you do are you an affiliate? If you have a separate post for this kind of question please to let me know :)
Thanks Hannah! I use Ethical Superstore – it has a great selection – and I like how you can shop based on your preferences – e.g. plastic-free/vegan.
Started to use cloth for wee……it fine, not horriblevand they clthscgetcwashed with my towels,knicks etc ….saving a load of pepper and I recommend that people give it a go…oh yes, visitors have paper to use!!
Great to hear that’s working for you Jen! Haven’t been able to make that leap yet!
I read this article at 10 pm last night, trying to think of ways to reduce my toilet roll waste (as you do). I read the comments. I thought “little jug??” “Re-useable wipes??” “Special hose in the bathroom??” No wonder toilet paper is so popular. But the idea of a bedet type situation didn’t put me off entirely, i just couldn’t think how such a thing could be part of my life, having a postage sized bathroom and no spare cash for a Japanese throne. And then I thought – surely I can DIY a better option than a jug?
Well welcome to the future people and you’re welcome in advance. I had a just finished jiffy lemon squeezy lemon in the recycling and I’ve put it to use as my own personal, hand held, travel sized, pressure washer bedet. It’s PERFECT for this purpose. As long as it’s fairly full the stream is plenty powerful enough for most situations I should think, then you just need to towel dry at home or you could have a fit – for – purpose cloth for when you’re out & about (it IS powerful, you’ll only be dealing with water when you dry off). It’s easy enough to top up with warm water from the tap or a mug of water and if you’re concerned about the hygeine of the portable option, you can just wash it along with your hands afterwards. I’ve got 3 rolls left of toilet paper and that’s now just for visitors and/or dire emergencies. Problem solved. Cheers – Jiff.
Has anyone used BoxRoll? I’ve just found a couple of sites that sell it online and they say that it’s recycled, made in the UK and plastic free – but is there a catch?!
Personally I love Ecoleaf and have used them for years already. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned a Japanese toilet yet! I spent some time in Japan and completely fell in love with their iconic toilets – weird, I know. But once you’ve tried them, I don’t think you’ll ever want to go back! I noticed in our time there that we used so little toilet paper, and none some days (!) mainly because the toilet does all the cleaning for you. It’s much more hygienic. There are also models with a fan that will dry you off! Obviously this requires electricity, and that power has an impact of course but if you installed this and had 100% green energy supplier, the impact will be reduced. I’d be very interested to see some stats. You can either buy the full units in the UK, or buy a toilet seat which fits onto our toilets and converts it.
We use Cheeky Panda. We have bottled milk delivered and the milkman, MilkandMore also sells Cheeky Panda goods!
I’ve refurbished some apartments a few years ago and installed a ‘hose’ into the bathrooms. It took me ages to find them, but if one looks for ‘shataff’ online, or in plumbing merchants in Indian/Asian neighbourhoods they are of course much more common in Asian households.
Not expensive at all!! Priced between £8-£20. The expense is in the plumbing. I also installed a basic thermostatic valve, which was connected to the hot and cold feed pipes and set to supply a comfortable water temperature. (It’s in a cupboard, not on show)
There isn’t a drain in the floor, so if the hose were to drip, that could be an issue.
This is an essential for any environmentalist installing a new bathroom. It drastically reduces any need for toilet paper other than a drying cloth, or paper for guests.
My grandmother, born and raised in India used to use a jug of water, no idea how she did this practically but it obviously worked. It’s something I have thought about a lot recently, sadly she’s no longer here to ask. My dad (her son) uses a sponge (a normal kitchen type one) but is also weirdly obsessed with having vast quantities of toilet paper in the house so not really sure what he does! When you think about it it’s so wasteful, I’m sure we could live without it or at least use it a lot less
Thanks for your review slowly trying a few recycled toilet rolls, and kitchen roll, ( used soaringly it has its place).
Your article is helping me decide
The arthritis in my hands make a difficult option, but for anyone wondering about switching to cloths but thinking that us a bit gross try the water jug option. My Asian-heritage Muslim friends have beautiful jugs, with a long narrow spout, in the family bathrooms for washing. Just fill it up first and use while still sitting on the loo. Then use a cloth to dry.
Hi Wendy, thanks for this article. At home I use a cup of water to wash after using the loo, which is the method used in rural India. (Use one hand to tip cup and the other to clean – wash hands thoroughly!). Dry off using small flannels which go through the wash regularly. Feels like the cleanest, healthiest, lowest waste option with no special laundry requirements. For everyone else I usually buy whatever recycled toilet paper is available, but will make an effort to stock up on Ecoleaf next time I’m in the right shop – thank you.
Hi. I have been enjoying reading the blogs and all the helpful information, so sound and sensible. I just wanted to ask if anyone has used the Amazon Brand Presto Eco Loo rolls. In and among all the reviews for all their different loo rolls, they get pretty good reviews. Work out at 43p per roll at the moment, buying 36 rolls for £15.49. Wrapped in plastic(each 9 rolls), made in Switzerland. Prefer not to buy from Amazon, but delivery is free with Prime, not sure otherwise.
Thank you for this roundup :) eco-friendly loo roll is the next thing i want to dip my toe into but haven’t been able to decide which one to go for. I’ll probably go for Ecoleaf because they are UK based and the carbon footprint will be less. I also hate how WGAC individually wrap each roll. SO UNNECESSARY.
Can’t believe I have only just found your site, I feel like a lone madwoman often on zw groups making these points about shipping and individual paper wrapping!
So good to find someone else who sees past the marketing (and WGAC admitted last year that the carbon footprint of their product is higher than any EU made recycled products for EU residents. I find it upsetting that they continue to market it aggressively here, knowing it is more damaging than many alternatives, and that we have such a short time to slash carbon emissions.
Aah, brilliant, so happy to have you here Rachel!
So I am afraid I am a marketeers dream and use WGAC because the visual and marketing got me! I am also a sucker for a good cause and love their story! That said it does last for absolutely ages and our family use alot less of it as it is strong and soft! And of course most normal loo roll comes wrapped in polythene which is recyclable with carrier bags at supermarkets so it seems a big effort to go plastic free. It is a question I do get asked often too though and I would love to share it on my website. It is a brilliantly researched and written piece! Thanks for writing it!
Oh they do look nice sitting in your bathroom – there’s no getting around that, and I can see the appeal of getting people in to living plastic-free with their pretty rolls! And thanks so much Heidi! :)
I recently purchased Tesco Luxury Soft 24 rolls, 2ply, 220 sheets per roll at £8.00.
These rolls were wrapped in one sheet of plastic, at the back of the plastic wrapping it advised how to dispose of the cardboard roll and the wrapping, as the cardboard tube can be placed in council recycling , this is easy to do while the wrapping can be recycled it does state “At Larger Supermarkets” not “Kerbside”.
As the Tesco Extra I visit regular has the above disposal bin for plastics that you can recycle “At Larger Supermarkets” I chose to purchase this.
I looked at various other brands at Tesco, all seemed to be 2ply and have the “At Larger Supermarkets” recycle symbol printed on the plastic wrapping which is partially good news.
These rolls werent recycled paper and I couldn’t see any brands mentioning this at the Llantrisant Store in South Wales.
I have purchased loose rolls from Health Food Stores and ZeroWaste Shops, depending on my location yet wasn’t going to be in those areas anytime soon and the roll stash at home for my husband and I was getting low.
By purchasing the largest pack available (Tesco branded), I know I have somewhat produced least waste.
All the brands you mentioned I have heard of and like you, agree with your views about Who Gives a Crap with indiviually wrapping each roll, one of many reasons I don’t purchase this brand.
Loose roll brands I have used are Suma and Essential Trading and found them great to use.
I found Renova loo roll which is wrapped in paper. It’s available in my local Tesco (Dumfries) in packs of 4. It’s not always there so when I see it I stock up on a few.
I have to admit I haven’t researched where it comes from, I just saw the paper packaging and went for that over the plastic wrapped ones!
It’s EU made (Portugal from memory?), so much better than WGAC, Greencane and Cheeky Panda in terms of carbon footprint
Great, well-researched post – thank you very much, Wendy. My family and I use Who Gives A Crap (the premium rolls, which really are very nice – much better than the standard rolls, which I found too flimsy). However, I was quite dismayed by the fact they have to ship all the way from China. And, like you say, is it really necessary to wrap up each roll? However, I agree with the company that it does make the rolls much more marketable, especially to those who might not be so eco-minded. It also makes the TP more flexible in terms of use – if businesses use them, it seems more sanitary to stack up wrapped rolls in a loo than unwrapped, or indeed, keeping them in a back room somewhere, less chance of getting damp (we store the box in our attic which can get damp). As we all (hopefully) make that shift to a more sustainable eco-minded society, I’d rather have MORE people using Who Gives a Crap (or another eco-brand) than buying cheap plastic-wrapped, much less environmentally friendly brands in their local shop or supermarket. It’s a really tough one … it feels like (with every eco choice, diesel vs electric for example) there is always going to be a compromise, whether it’s on price or shipping method, or storage method, etc. until the way (the system//ideology/culture) our society is run changes. Similarly, I’d rather have more people drive electric than diesel cars. Although electric cars are far from perfect (mining to get materials for battery, disposal of batteries, etc.), in terms of emissions, it feels like in that overall hierarchy of good/bad for our health and planet, electric better for the air we breathe.
Family cloth for us. Don’t find the idea ‘gross’ at all but that’s just us! We already do cloth for our son (who is about to be potty trained!!!) so we’re used to all sorts. We do however buy recycled toilet paper for guests.
We use cheeky panda too but mainly because I can get it at Oxfam on our high street so no delivery costs!
We use Ecoleaf paper and the biodegradable wrapping makes a very handy liner for our bathroom bin :) A friend who uses Who Gives a Crap had a chat with her nice delivery person and contacted the company on his behalf. She says: “In the UK, your boxes are classed as ‘standard’ deliveries by the distribution company. This means that every time my bog roll arrives, in a MASSIVE box, it’s an unexpected faff for the delivery box… that classification means he’d normally expect a ‘standard package’, meaning he can fit plenty in his van and make a decent round per day. These guys are on pretty crap contracts, as I’m sure you know, so they have to work smart to make it work for them. Can I ask how you choose your delivery companies? And do you double-check that they’re fair in what they ask of their drivers? I appreciate it’s a supply-chain question, not something you’re doing yourselves to inconvenience delivery drivers. But he was so cross about your (rather lovely) copy on the box thanking him for delivering when it’s a massive inconvenience, I promised him I’d ask the question! 😆” No proper reply yet…
That’s really interesting Ruth, thank you. Haven’t use the service before, so had no idea – but that’s really unfair for the drivers. Do let me know what the reply is from Who Gives A Crap – interested to hear.
I bought a pack of four Cheeky Panda from Aldi to give them a try. They seem a good option, especially if bought in bulk so I’ll be swapping to them.
I was looking around and found cheek panda which can be supplied plastic free, they are made from bamboo and FSC certified.
Thank you for this article, it’s quite an eye opener especially with regard to human rights of workers. That alone would stop me from buying those products from Asia but I applaud Suma (my new zero waste shop stocks their products) for their good work.
Currently I buy loo rolls from one of the discount supermarkets at just over £3 for 9 and simply could not afford to pay considerably more for recycled/eco friendly brands. I’ve not written off using ‘family cloth’ for number 1’s, however I definitely would not use it for number 2’s. Toilet wipes are ‘a bad thing’ and am not aware of anything being made or trialled that would enable these to be phased out and replaced by something eco-friendly. Wendy – are you aware of any alternatives?
Hi Elaine, I wouldn’t worry, to be honest I think any plastic wrapped recycled loo roll that’s made in the UK/EU would have a smaller carbon footprint than toilet roll wrapped in paper and shipped from China.
In terms of toilet wipes, I have heard of Natracare’s Safe To Flush wipes that are plastic free (the wipes themselves, not the packaging) that apparently are safe to flush but I haven’t looked in to them.
Hi Wendy and, yes, do agree with you re carbon footprint.
Thanks for the heads up, not heard of Natracare before and will definitely investigate.
Found some Natracare Wipes in our local Waitrose & actually did my own very basic test on them against an Andrex wipe. The Natracare certainly started to degrade whilst the Andrex one did not. This wasn’t the most scientific test but was enough for me. I’ll certainly buy them again.
I’m not ready to try cloth either. Has anyone got a bidet installed in their toilets? I’m curious about those. It would use more water, and electricity (?), and am a bit wary to find out whether we’d like it. But would safe a lot of toilet paper.
I can’t imagine my family’s reaction if we switched to cloth! :D
I’m always intrigued by the bidet or hose option as it seems the most environmentally friendly if all, and naively wonder whether it would be really cold? Also, wouldn’t you need something to dry off, or is that the family cloth?
A well researched and balanced post, as always, Wendy.
I’d love an in-loo bidet – this is the norm in so much of the rest of the world, it leaves you feeling far cleaner and fresher, and hugely reduces the amount of paper needed. I guess the flip side of this is the increased water usage, but I’d imagine this is relatively little, and still less of an impact that the water needed to produce the additional paper.
Before lockdown I had one toilet with a bidet spray plumbed in. We got the downstairs toilet plumbed in with one as well during lockdown. We did the work ourselves. It’s fiddly but not difficult and there are good YouTube videos on how to do it. We just use a cold water one, so there isn’t a huge extra electricity cost there. I have separate hooks for each family member with a cloth hung up on each for drying afterwards. This works well for us, and is certainly a lot nicer than “family cloth” without having a bidet spray! The wee shower is also excellent if you have kids who are still in cloth nappies or toilet training as it makes clean ups soooo much easier. I like it for keeping me fresh during periods as well, though the spray is too intense for rinsing a menstrual cup.