Which is more eco-friendly: bamboo or recycled toilet paper?

A box full of rolls of unbleached toilet paper

It’s the battle for the bathroom. Bamboo toilet paper and recycled toilet paper both claim to be the greener choice, but which one really reigns supreme? 

When it comes to toilet paper manufacturing there’s three big categories of environmental impact we need to think about; the impact of sourcing raw materials, the chemicals involved in manufacturing the tissue, and the climate cost of manufacturing and transport.

First up - the raw stuff. 

Bamboo growing in a sunlit forest

Raw materials: bamboo vs. recycled paper

The first thing to consider is the raw materials used to make your trusty bathroom tissue paper. 

Bamboo is often hailed as a sustainability superplant because it’s fast-growing, renewable, and doesn’t need to be replanted after harvesting. Compared to trees, which can take decades to grow, bamboo can be harvested in just a few years, so responsibly managed bamboo forests can provide huge amounts of timber with less intensive forestry.

But raw bamboo is still a virgin material, so what about recycled toilet paper? 

Recycled paper products, including tissue products, are typically made from junk paper, often discarded office printer paper and old leaflets. In theory this is great, waste not, want not. But there’s a catch; the supply of office paper is drying up. With workplaces becoming increasingly digitised and fewer people printing out emails and reports there’s simply less office paper around. 

As a result, sourcing enough office paper for recycled tissue has become more difficult, and toilet paper manufacturers often have to cast a wider net to collect materials. Some of the big companies are even using more virgin timber to replace the recycled material they can’t get hold of! 

These issues were already apparent when we came to make our own recycled toilet paper, so we knew we couldn’t rely on office supplies. But as one door closes another one opens! The rise of digitisation means that people are now getting more deliveries than before. Cardboard boxes used in deliveries are plentiful and they offer a more sustainable alternative to office paper for making recycled toilet paper. 

By sourcing cardboard waste locally within 85km of our factory we can dramatically reduce the energy spent on collection and transport.

Winner: We’ll call it a tie. Bamboo shines for its renewability, but as long as recycled rolls are made from a source of waste material that’s abundant and local, it’s a great option. 

Clean water flowing in a river with the sky reflected above

Chemicals and bleach

When it comes to the chemicals involved in standard tissue production, bamboo presents a great opportunity to ditch the bleach.

Left unbleached, bamboo toilet paper is a lovely soft brown colour, no chlorine, peroxide, or other harsh chemicals required. We started to champion unbleached bamboo toilet paper back in 2020, and at the time some people thought we’d lost the plot. But in the years since brown toilet paper has caught on, with more companies offering unbleached options. We’re proud to have started the trend!

Recycled paper, on the other hand, often needs more processing. Recycled toilet paper made from office paper or glossy brochures has got to be bleached or the final tissue would come out an unappealing grey colour.

Luckily for us at Naked Sprout, cardboard boxes once again save the day. The cardboard boxes and kraft paper we use for our own recycled rolls can be turned into recycled toilet paper without the need for aggressive de-inking or bleaching. Recycled toilet paper made from cardboard is pale brown, like bamboo, although our recycled rolls have a slightly pinkish tinge which we think is lovely!

So there's no bleach in Naked Sprout tissue products, what about other ingredients?

Aside from bleach, toilet paper will also typically contain adhesives used to bind the plys and soaps and salts used to clean and break down the raw materials. At Naked Sprout we only ever use ingredients that meet REACH certification, meaning they’re essentially neutral in their environmental impact.

Winner: Unbleached bamboo toilet paper will typically have less chemical processing than white recycled rolls, but brown recycled paper made from cardboard boxes is just as good!

An industrial landscape with fossil fuel emissions

Climate emissions

We’ve reviewed raw materials, we’ve considered chemicals, now it’s time to evaluate emissions. Most CO2e emissions come when fossil fuels are used to generate energy. Let’s break it down.

Transport emissions:

Bamboo toilet rolls often travel a long way to reach your loo. Bamboo can grow all over the world, but at the moment the commercial source for most bamboo is China, and that’s where most bamboo rolls are manufactured. 

Seems sensible enough, but toilet paper is famously light and fluffy, and features a big hole in the middle! So when you ship boxes of toilet paper from China, you’re shipping a lot of air. Not the most efficient use of fuel. 

At Naked Sprout we only transport bamboo from China in the form of compact pulp bales, not bulky finished rolls. Our rolls are actually manufactured at our wonderful B Corp factory in Spain. The waste packaging materials we use for our recycled rolls have less distance to travel, they come from within 85 km of our factory.

Manufacturing emissions:

The biggest source of emissions in tissue production is the heat needed to dry the pulp into sheets. For most toilet roll manufacturers, this heat comes from fossil fuels, which drives up their climate footprint. We’ve flipped the script. All the energy we use in our manufacturing comes from renewable fuels that are generated from local sources.

This significantly reduces the emissions associated with both our bamboo toilet paper and recycled toilet rolls.

Winner: Recycled wins out on transport miles required, but with renewable energy powering our manufacturing at Naked Sprout, both options are excellent choices for a low-emission bathroom tissue paper.

Unbleached toilet rolls in a basket in a home bathroom

Bonus round: watch out for the extras!

No matter how sustainable your toilet roll is, unnecessary extras can undo the best intentions. Be on the lookout for:

Plastic wrapping: Bulk buy toilet roll can save money, but check that it’s packaged plastic-free. Look for toilet paper in paper or cardboard packaging!

Dyed paper wrapping: Extra layers of wrapping might look fancy, but they’re not necessary, and they add to the raw material, chemical, and energy costs of each roll.

PFAS: These “forever chemicals” sometimes sneak into products, but they have no place in eco toilet roll. We believe most toilet paper companies will have tested their tissue for PFAS in recent years. We have - Naked Sprout recycled and bamboo toilet rolls are PFAS free

When shopping for tissues boxes or paper kitchen towels, follow the same guidelines: prioritise eco-conscious products without unnecessary additives.

For UK shoppers, check out British toilet paper brands that prioritise sustainability and ethical manufacturing. Many of these are B Corps (companies certified for their environmental and social responsibility). You can view our B Corp page here.

A balanced set of scales

The final verdict

So, which is more eco-friendly: bamboo or recycled toilet paper? It depends on how the toilet paper manufacturer in question sources their raw materials, the chemical processing involved, and the transport and manufacturing emissions. 

We can’t speak for other companies, but at Naked Sprout we’re happy to offer great value bamboo and recycled rolls made to be more sustainable than the standard way of doing things; with no harsh chemicals, no PFAS, and no fossil fuels used in manufacture. 

Our recycled toilet paper made from cardboard and kraft paper has the edge in terms of its overall impact because the cardboard packaging we use hasn’t had to travel as far to reach us as our bamboo. But if you’re a fan of bamboo, you can trust in the fact that we’re only shipping this wonderful renewable raw material in its most compact form.

Want to try our ultra-soft, wonderfully sustainable products? 

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