The 4 main reasons why you should start using fair trade toilet paper in 2022

Toilet paper. It’s something we use daily, without putting a lot of thought into where it comes from or what it is made out of. Maybe, 2022 is the year to change this up. As we all know, toilet paper is made out of, well, paper. Most brands use freshly cut wood and turn this into paper for their production lines. But why would we need to cut down even more trees to produce toilet paper, when all we do with it, is clean our bums and throw it away again? Why shouldn’t we just use recycled paper? 

1. No fresh wood necessary

Every day about 27 000 trees are cut down, just to make toilet paper. Yes, you read that right: twenty-seven thousand. The fact that virgin wood is still being used to produce loo rolls that are flushed away in seconds, is mind-blowing. When you start using eco-friendly toilet paper, it is recycled from paper that has already been used for a different purpose, so no freshly cut trees are needed. At The Good Roll, our recycled paper stems from office paper, magazines, packaging materials and carton boxes. This ensures the paper to not have been treated with many chemicals before reusing it as toilet paper. 

However, here at The Good Roll we believe that recycled toilet paper will not be the best solution in the future. That is why we looked into different sources to make toilet paper and thanks to our research we discovered that bamboo might very much be the perfect alternative! Bamboo has the potential to grow up to 1 meter per day, it is biodegradable and there is no need to use unnatural chemicals to make toilet paper out of it. The most fun fact of all is that bamboo produces 35% more oxygen than trees, so it really is a win-win.

Because we believe so strongly in bamboo as a raw material for toilet paper, we built the first 100% fair-trade toilet paper factory in Ghana! Thanks to this factory, we created jobs for the local Ghanaian population and we ensured that, thanks to bamboo cultivation, local farmers have an additional income.

2. No plastic used for packaging

If you want to reduce the amount of plastic you use on a daily basis, swapping your regular toilet paper for fair trade or environmentally friendly rolls might just do the trick. The Good Roll chooses to use packaging such as fully recyclable boxes and wrappers. For hygienic reasons, each of our rolls is wrapped in its individual colorful wrapper. If you think about it, those colorful wrappers add the extra benefit of always putting a smile on your face and they can be used as cute decoration in your bathroom. By the way, the wrappers can also be used as cute packaging paper for your next gift! 

3. No chemicals used

The Good Roll is made from 100% recycled fibers. In the manufacturing process, the fibers have to be cleaned and freed from ink.

In order to achieve the high quality and whiteness of our recycled products, two bleaching stages - an oxidative with hydrogen peroxide and a reductive with sodium salt - are used during the paper processing process. Halogens such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine are not used during production. 

We are also pleased to inform you that all our factories are certified according to the strict environmental requirements of ISO 14001 and are certified for their energy management according to ISO 50001.

4. Fully sustainable processes used for production

We produce as locally as possible to minimize the impact on the environment. That means our paper is made from 100% European collected recycled or bamboo paper and is also packed in the Netherlands. In addition, we minimize unnecessary emissions through local production by reducing transport distances. 

At The Good Roll we are proud to say that we, as a company, are 100% circular. This circularity entails that there are resources cycles in which we contribute to a never-ending cycle. The circularity involves designing and promoting products that can be reused, repaired, and re-manufactured. We ensure that throughout our entire supply chain circularity is adhered. This includes all our waste streams, such as paper, cans, glass, cardboard, wood and PET, food and residual waste. It is not only the larger streams, but it additionally includes smaller sized wastes such as the coffee grounds used for hot coffee every morning at our office. We encourage this by having our own waste collector, which collects our recycled plastic and ensures it gets recycled properly by the Milieu Service Nederland. They ensure that the plastic in their factory, Plastic Recycling Amsterdam, is processed into a 99% pure raw material. This brings the plastic back to the beginning of the circle and restarts its life cycle. We acknowledge the importance of circularity and are proud to be 100% circular.

Next to all this, we also work together with a social workplace, to ensure we can also make a social impact. To read more about this, you can click here.

Above you could read 4 reasons why you should use fairtrade, eco-friendly toilet paper, but of course there are many more reasons why reducing your carbon footprint. 

However, you should always remember: Making a change, even from the smallest room in your house, can make a huge difference. 

Order our products here and start making impact now!