Why toilet paper? How's it made?

Over the centuries, the innovation of toilet paper as a ubiquitous hygiene product has evolved and become a necessity amongst the majority of the Western world’s population. Tissue products including facial tissues, paper towels, printing paper, notebooks, sanitary napkins, and toilet paper are all single-use products, manufactured from the pulp of wood through the kraft pulp process. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this “involves the digesti[on] of wood chips at [an] elevated temperature and pressure in ‘white liquor’, which is a water solution of sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide. The white liquor chemically dissolves the lignin that binds the cellulose fibers together," (“10.2 Chemical Wood Pulping”).

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How about the rest of the world?

According to the marketing analysis firm of paper industries, Resource Information Systems Incorporated, the average American utilizes approximately 23.6 ROLLS or 50 POUNDS OF TOILET PAPER ANNUALLY (Robbins 57). That’s almost THREE TIMES MORE than the average European and over a 100 TIMES more than a Chinese citizen (Robbins 57). Not many citizens give thought to the manufacturing process of such an inefficient product that relies heavily on virgin pulp, gallons of water, and bleaching chemicals to produce a single-use disposable item.

Even in the modern day, toilet paper is not the standard personal hygiene product used amongst populations in regions of Europe and Asia. According to the EPA, the North American pulp production is well above the margins of European pulp production where industries produce approximately 29.9 million tons more on average (“Available and Emerging Technologies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Industry.”). The minimal use of toilet paper in regions like Europe is evident from their average pulp production over the decades. Since this invention is still relatively new, it is common to find refusal from several communities in utilizing such resources because of tradition, religion, and its high costs. As a result, there are currently many methods of cleaning across different regions of the world.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The implementation of the bidet, a water alternative, primarily serves to have a significant environmental impact on the United States as this alternative would put less stress on the existing natural resources. Detrimental effects including DEFORESTATION and the DECREASED WATER QUALITY are in fact due to the maximizing utilization and production of toilet paper. Today, toilet paper constitutes less than 10 percent of all paper products but accounts for a significant 15 percent of all deforestation (Robbins 58).

To produce products through the kraft pulp process, it not only relies on an abundant wood source but also requires a large amount of water in its production. The Minnesota Technical Assistance Program has analyzed the United States’, “water use within pulp and paper mills is approximately 17,000 gallons/ton of paper,” (Ryberg). Although there are countless studies and research programs set in place to minimize the water use for manufacturing pulp, water quality diminishes because of the many chemicals used to bleach, add fragrance, and incorporate other visual qualities to the tissue product.

The TOXIC chemicals and water playing major roles in producing this product arose many environmental concerns globally. Gar Smith’s journal article “The Coming Paper Drought”, mentions how toilet paper plants are often, “called ‘the Exxon Valdez of the pulp industry’ by local residents, pour[ing] 900 liters (238 gallons) of dioxin and furan-contaminated water into the Athabasca River every second (Smith 33).

This high level of water pollution not only threatens the aquatic environments and their biodiversity but also negatively impacts the quality of the water in which the population consumes.
How can we limit this devastating impact? → With businesses encouraging the bidet as a more environmentally friendly alternative which avoids the use of toxic chemicals and deforestation for pulp, the overall negative impacts of toilet paper can be minimized. Tossing all toilet paper and utilizing this new technology in the United States could potentially save a million of trees, terawatts of electricity, and more than a billion gallons of 5 water annually. This alternative has minimal impacts on the environment compared to that of toilet paper.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT

From an economic standpoint, toilet paper as a single-use disposable product not only impacts the availability of natural resources around the world, but it is not the most cost-effective product for buyers. This nation is known to be continually restocking their homes with toilet paper every week.
According to Science of the Total Environment, a peer-reviewed journal many regions of the world are unable to afford toilet paper due to the high costs therefore reflecting on their overall health (“Assessing the Consequences of Global Change for Forest Disturbance from Herbivores and Pathogens, Science of the Total Environment.”). In the United States, the average twelve roll pack Scott toilet paper package costs about $10. With this method of personal hygiene, the average American family of four would use approximately $4170 over a ten year period. Purchasing the bidet, on the other hand, costs on average $599 and its water and electricity usage over a decade is only $657 (Goldstein 38).

In comparison, this alternative benefits the US population in terms of cost savings and how it lasts for an extended period of time as it is manufactured to be long-lasting. This money-saving alternative can, therefore, benefit the US population and potentially save them from taking extra trips to restock themselves with toilet paper.

THE HEALTH IMPACT

Not only is purchasing toilet paper economically ineffective, but its utilization has shown to be potentially damaging to the overall wellness of the United States’ health. After defecation, this product is known to move rather than remove the faeces left on the faecal-oral route after wiping. The irritation caused by toilet paper’s inefficiency can potentially lead to many horrifying infections of the genital organs.

Not only are they highly ineffective, but the 6 chemicals used to bleach these products, including chlorine, are highly toxic and can have fatal impacts on our population, specifically women who in return suffer from chronic vulvar irritation, vulvovaginitis . The US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2 “estimates that half of all women older than 24 years of age will experience at least one episode of vulvovaginitis discomfort” and of this, “[a]lmost half of [the] vulvar problems are presented [to] have no clear cause,” (Majerovich, Jo Ann, et al.). Accounting the multiple case studies regarding this problem, the PubMed Central gives initial suspicion that chlorine bleach might have been the offending substance and postulated that there must be a chemical that remains in the bleached toilet paper that acts as an irritant or allergen,” (Majerovich, Jo Ann, et al.). With the bidet, its pressured shower system can thoroughly cleanse the faecal-oral route and potentially avoid all sorts of health risks that may be present when using toilet paper. Thus, implementing the bidet as an alternative will help avert such detrimental health effects on the population.

It is often said that the high water pressure of the bidet spraying system may lead to some health risks. According to the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, “physicians have expressed concern that the habitual use of a bidet toilet causes hemorrhoids” as a result of the continual high force of water on the fecal-oral route (Kiuchi et al.). According to Sarah Goldstein’s study of why Americans refuse to leave toilet paper, the overpowering health benefits of the technology is prevalent as majority of such products include endorsements from doctors and have shown to make, “huge health differences,” (Goldstein 38). However, the bidet has more benefits in terms of health when used at a safe and recommended pressure setting as it thoroughly cleans the fecal-oral route, preventing any fatal genital infections.

A Brief History

Similar to the many innovations regarding the manufacturing of paper originating in China, the production of toilet paper also originated in the same region during the 14th century. Noelle Robbins, a freelance journalist who focuses on the individual, community, and environmental health concerns of society and winner of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship discusses the start of toilet paper manufacturing for the royal families, where the, “original sheets measured two feet by three feet,” (Robbins 58). Paper being a relatively recent discovery has not always been the primary resource for personal cleansing. Methods involving the use of a rag, leaves, seaweed, straw, grass, snow, sand, feathers, New England’s sheep wool, and even Hawaiian coconut shells have been previously employed (Robbins 58). This resource, like others, also carries a fascinating past. Walter T. Hughes, an established doctor and former Chairman of the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude 3 discusses how the most hygienic method of cleansing of this historical time was used in Rome, where the wealthy would use wool soaked in rosewater and the others would use a sponge that was typically attached to a wooden stick, soaked in salt water (Hughes 218).

Although this was thought to be the most sanitary way to maintain personal hygiene, the innovation of toilet paper came into place in the middle of the 9th century, where the use of wood pulp to make paper for self cleansing was first introduced. Although it had its setbacks as it was often found to have given people splinters making the product unpromising, its single use disposability, practicality, and hygienic use came into popularity at the time, during the centuries of the Ming China.

But in the recent decades, the production of this resource is negatively impacting the United States in many different fronts. According to Margaret Thatcher, a British stateswoman and former Prime Minister, countless environmental concerns involving pollution arose to be a significant problem present around the world because of the rise of industrial manufacturing (Thatcher 18). The bidet , first introduced by a French architect, was used as an alternative to toilet paper because of its 1health benefits on the population. According to the United States Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, this technology is a, “warm water shower to clean the anal or urogenital area after defecation, urination, or menstruation,” (Kiuchi et al.). As the world starts to globalize and technologically advance further, this eco-friendly innovation diffuses and becomes part of many people's daily hygiene routines around the world as an alternative to toilet paper.