From facial tissues to paper towels, we generally advocate replacing disposable products with reusable alternatives. But if you like to keep some of the paper stuff around (and then, of course, there's the issue of toilet paper), you might be interested in NRDC's recently-updated Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products.
The guide includes environmental ratings for household paper products including toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue, and paper towels. Ratings are based on the total percentage of recycled content, post-consumer content, and the bleaching process.
In all product categories, the Green Forest brand came out on top. Products to avoid include Kleenex and Puffs tissues, Charmin and Cottonelle toilet paper, Bounty and Viva paper towels, and Bounty and Kleenex napkins.
Check out the guide for more details. It's available online and as a printable PDF:
• A Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products
Related: Are Paper Napkins and Towels Still So Bad, Even If They're 100% Recycled?
(Images: NRDC)
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I don't think Whole Foods came out on top. I think they just listed the brands alphabetically. As 365 is a number, it was listed first.
view mniche's profile
@mniche You're right. Post corrected to read Green Forest.
view Emily Ho's profile
never thought of this before so thank you -- will be switching to wholefoods brand or another recycled brand.
view plumeria's profile
I was just talking about this with my husband the other day. We use cloth for almost everything, but it's hard not to have tissue paper around with two 2-year-olds and runny noses galore. We buy Green Forest toilet paper but have tried all the recycled tissues and they are all rough and scratchy. Why can't someone make a SOFT recycled tissue? We have been using Kleenex UltraSoft, which I'm sure is the worst of the worst (but at least it has no fragrance or "lotion").
view Lesley's profile