Oh crap
Moving in with another person requires many compromises along the way. When it came to grocery shopping, my husband and I did a pretty good job. Except with toilet paper. I used recycled TP; my husband needed one of the super soft brands. To make each other happy, we alternated purchases, but ultimately one of us was always disappointed. So, in January, I attempted to find a compromise. I googled "best eco-friendly toilet paper", found a review of multiple brands. In this particular review, Who Gives A Crap won in terms of quality and softness.
I loved the name. I loved that it was a small company trying to have fun and make a positive impact on the world. They recognize the importance of water and sanitation on public health and donate 50% of their proceeds to these efforts ($950,000 to date). Other pro's: They've thought through and are open about the environmental impact of their production efforts, at least on the Australian side, which is where they are based. And they package without plastic.
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I bit the bullet and ordered both the recycled paper (3-ply, "unicorn kisses") and bamboo (3-ply, "wiping with clouds") options. This turned out to be A LOT of toilet paper, so my family got presents. Seven months into this endeavor, I prefer clouds to unicorn kisses.
I recently investigated other bamboo options, just to see what else was out there. Of those I found, only one (Pure Planet) specifically avoids plastic packaging. At the end of the day, I'm sticking with Who Gives A Crap.
Update 1/16/19: My mom took this whole endeavor an awesome step further. In her words:
"Now that I have a significant number of your present TP, I decided to put it to a dissolve-ability test before allowing it all to go into our septic system...I tested it against the recycled TP I already had on hand. I tested both TPs sitting in H2O for 5, 15, and 25 min. WGAC was the winner at each time--outpacing the other one even more towards the end...Thank you! Very happy"
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"Now that I have a significant number of your present TP, I decided to put it to a dissolve-ability test before allowing it all to go into our septic system...I tested it against the recycled TP I already had on hand. I tested both TPs sitting in H2O for 5, 15, and 25 min. WGAC was the winner at each time--outpacing the other one even more towards the end...Thank you! Very happy"
