An Issue with Tissue: Sustainability Scorecard Flunks Major Toilet Paper Brands

A new report takes the largest tissue sector companies to task for destroying North American forests and exacerbating the climate crisis. "The Issue with Tissue" reveals Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Georgia-Pacific use zero recycled content in their toilet paper, relying on ancient trees clear-cut from the Canadian Boreal Forest (the "Amazon of the North"). The average American uses three rolls of toilet paper a week – and major brands' refusal to create sustainable products makes consumers unwittingly complicit in flushing forests down the toilet.

The report features a sustainability scorecard, assigning "F" grades to tissue brands Charmin, Quilted Northern, and Angel Soft. Brands using recycled paper content, including 365, Seventh Generation, and Natural Value got "A" grades. The scorecard also ranks facial tissues and paper towels.

The report claims this "tree-to-toilet pipeline" harms Indigenous Peoples and iconic species like boreal caribou. The boreal forest stores nearly two times as much carbon as all the world's oil reserves combined. Toilet paper and tissue manufacturers rely on forests even though they have resources to create products with recycled and responsibly sourced content.

Charmin, the nation's leading toilet paper brand made by Procter & Gamble, is called out for refusing to increase its use of recycled materials.

Shelley Vinyard, report co-author and boreal corporate campaign manager, NRDC: "We're calling on Procter & Gamble, the maker of America's leading toilet paper brand, to stop flushing forests down the toilet. Procter & Gamble has the innovation resources to bring Charmin into the 21st century; the question is whether the company will embrace its reputation as an innovator to create sustainable products using recycled material instead of clear-cut trees."

NRDC and Stand.earth are calling on Procter & Gamble and other manufacturers to shift to recycled content and sustainable alternative fibers, and to ensure their supply chain protects boreal caribou habitat and respects Indigenous Peoples' rights.

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