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The trouble with tissue paper
WWF
A report by the WWF places tissue paper in
the spotlight. Everyday about 270 000 trees are flushed down the drain or end up
as garbage all over the world. In a growing industry sector, the origins of the
timber used in tissues, toilet paper and the like are called into question.
 Half
the world's commercial timber is needed to make paper products such as facial
tissues, toilet paper, paper towels, handkerchiefs, gift wrap paper, packaging,
photocopy paper, newspapers, magazines and even holiday photos.
The timber comes from forests all over the world. The sad news is that in
several countries, illegal harvesting, unsustainable logging and irresponsible
plantation establishment and management, still threaten forest biodiversity and
the survival of many forest species. Also, the issue of illegality does not stop
at borders and trade in timber spreads illegally harvested timber throughout the
world, ending up in products consumers buy.
Some tissue facts
- If you stretched out all the tissues used in Europe in one year, it would
reach to the moon and back 635 times, and travel around the world 12 000 times.
- Most tissue products bought by household consumers contain very little
recycled paper. The recycling rate in the tissue sector is, in general,
significantly lower than in the paper sector. The softness, strength and
appearance of tissues are used as key reasons to justify the use of virgin
forest wood fibres. Once used, tissue paper products are not recoverable or
recyclable.
- Your toilet roll may have contributed to the sell out of
forests in the Baltic States and Russia for short term profits. To make
your facial tissue, large areas of untouched forests may have been cut and burnt
to make room for fast growing Eucalyptus plantations.
- Chemicals are often used to bleach tissue products. These can be harmful to our
bodies as well as our water supplies.
Big business
The global tissue business is worth over 30 US billion dollars annually, and has
grown by nearly 4% per year in the past decade. Significant growth rates can be
expected over the coming years which means that more trees will be used for our
daily hygiene.
Producing and using paper products need not mean destroying forests. It all
depends on how and where the timber has been obtained. This requires the
leadership and transparency of the companies involved in the multi-billion
dollar paper industry.
Currently very little information is available and transparent to consumers
to help them choose forest products that are from responsibly managed forests.
WWF is seeking to change this and is investigating the corporate responsibility
of an important growing industry sector - tissue.
This sector supplies toilet paper, facial tissues, paper towels and
handkerchiefs. WWF is asking the "tissue giants" in Europe -
Georgia-Pacific, Kimberly-Clark, Metsa Tissue, Procter & Gamble, and SCA,
the five major tissue production companies supplying the European market - about
their wood supplies and manufacturing processes, to help stop illegal and
irresponsible harvesting, and to show leadership by changing their practices
step by step.
More information:
WWF - www.panda.org
Reproduced with permission from WWF. © 2002 WWF-- World Wide Fund For Nature.
(Formerly World Wildlife Fund). All rights reserved.
Article has been edited.
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