Toilet paper is one of the leading culprits in waste. Everyone wants to be eco friendly, but we are not paying proper attention to our daily used materials. We use toilet paper every day and to be precise we need three rolls a week. Have you ever thought about whether they are eco friendly?
Napkins, paper towels, tissues and paper remain a big thing wasted daily because we have gotten so accustomed to convenience, none of us wants to make a switch. Don’t get me wrong; I am not asking you to give up toilet rolls or make a significant change.
Make the switch to renewable materials for the environment. For example, napkins and tissue paper are a great waste and lead to deforestation to meet the demand. Whereas hemp toilet papers are green and are not waste materials.
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What Is Toilet Paper Made of?
Traditional toilet paper is made from wood like other paper products and napkins. The trees are being cut down to make these napkins and paper towels. Unlike traditional rolls, hemp toilet paper does not come from the pulp extraction of trees. Instead, it comes from hemp pulp.
The hemp toilet paper rolls are sustainable, environmentally friendly and the production rate per acre is greater than trees. In addition, being sustainable, this product costs less than regular toilet paper.
What Is Hemp Toilet Paper?
Hemp toilet paper is a type of tissue that is wholly made from fibers extracted from hemp plants. Many people think that we need wood extracts for toilet paper because anything else would be too hard. I am about to prove this concept wrong-
Toilet papers made from hemp provide a naturally softer paper because the fibers in the stem are finer than their tree equivalent. So objects made of hemp provide a softer body.
This might be a disadvantage of using hemp for making papers and cardboard as they need to be hard. But when it comes to toilet paper, you cannot find anything green than hemp toilet paper.
How Do You Make Toilet Paper Out of Hemp?
To make hemp toilet paper, you need to extract pulp out of fibrous material. This is the same with wood-made napkins, but this is even simpler in the case of hemp.
How is it simpler?
Woods from trees contain harder fibers and you need chemicals to soften them. These intoxicants leave a mark on the environment. At the same time, hemp has naturally fine fiber, which makes the process easier.
The initial pulp contained lignin which gives the pulp a brown color. But during the pulp preparation, intoxicants and bleaches remove this lignin. However, hemp has a much lower lignin concentration, producing in a much more environmentally friendly process.
Is Hemp Toilet Paper Septic Safe?
Hemp toilet paper is proven septic safe and this is also better for your septic system than traditional toilet paper. Most of the time, we notice the formal toilet papers clog up the septic system and become a mess.
The hemp toilet paper is biodegradable; it does not clog up personal or city septic systems.
Does Hemp Toilet Papers Reduce Deforestation?
According to statistics, the average American uses 141 toilet rolls a year. Regular toilet paper production is devastating the environment and resulting in climate change.
Traditional toilet paper is made from wood pulp, an industry that destroys forest resources. In addition, toilet paper made from wood needs a large amount of timber and as a result, old-growth trees are harvested, leading to environmental pollution and destroying other wild habitats.
After harvesting wood for regular toilet paper, they are made soft by using harmful chemicals. These intoxicants pollute our waterways and damage natural habitats.
One acre of hemp will produce so much pulp for the paper that 4 acres of trees will take 20 years to produce. This is because hemp grows faster and you can have more production from hemp compared to trees. Therefore you can save the forests by switching to hemp based products.
Why Consider Hemp Toilet Paper Over Traditional Ones?
The main reason for considering hemp toilet paper is because they have a lesser environmental impact. To be clear: the paper industry chops down 270,000 trees every day to meet the demand for wood-producing toilet paper.
Hemp has two benefits over wood-
- Hemp contains three times more cellulose fibers than wood pulp, which means from pound to pound; this provides many usable fibers.
- Hemp grows faster than trees and gives more production in a short period compared to trees.
What Are The Benefits Of Hemp Toilet Paper?
1. Hemp Toilet Paper Is Naturally Soft
If you have ever cut the stem of a hemp plant, you might have observed that it is soft inside. It’s a lot smoother than wood or other plant fibers. For this reason, you need extra chemicals to soften it.
Hemp toilet paper is made from naturally soft bast fibers. As this is made from bast fiber, this is soft and supple. This is why materials made from hemp are soft on your skin. On the other hand, regular toilet paper is made from wood pulp, which is coarser and less flexible.
2. Tougher Than Regular Paper
I just mentioned that hemp toilet paper is soft but remember they are not at all flimsy. They can absorb five times their weight in water. Hemp produces the strongest, most durable natural fiber that is durable and does not damage so easily.
I don’t have to go into awkward details about why durability and strength are important, right?
3. Antibacterial Properties
Hemp materials have several antibacterial and antifungal properties and contain over 500 natural compounds, including cannabinoids, alkaloids and other bioactive components. Since hemp is naturally antibacterial, you get a better clean when you wipe with it.
Antibacterial properties are a huge asset when it comes to toilet paper, particularly for women. Antibacterial properties make it safer for women for sensitive areas and help avoid yeast infections and UTIs.
4. Biodegradable
Hemp toilet paper contains fewer chemicals from the initial processing. So it degrades faster than paper in the soil. Generally, harmful chemicals and toxins are not needed to produce hemp based products making them sustainable and septic safe.
Conventional toilet paper processing involves chlorine, bleach and sometimes BPA, which are all toxins and you don’t want them leaching on the ground.
Hemp toilet paper, on the other hand, goes through a far less chemically intensive process. Thus they are safe for the soil when they break down.
Another great advantage of hemp toilet paper being biodegradable is that they are septic safe. Therefore, unlike conventional toilet paper, hemp toilet paper do not clog up personal or city septic systems, which are not fully biodegradable.
5. Less Need for Chemical Use Than Traditional Toilet Papers
All sorts of paper manufacturing use varying amounts of chemicals. This includes the processing of recycled papers or napkins and these chemical wastes pollute the waterways and impact the environmental habitat.
Wood fibers are hard enough, so they are softened by using chemicals. While hemp fibers are naturally soft, there is less need for bleaching, meaning there is a far less chemical waste.
6. Hemp Toilet Paper Produces More Material Per Acre Than Trees
A large amount of hemp can be grown in a single acre of land- up to 10 tons! Why is it important? Because the less land we use to produce toilet paper and other products, the fewer forests and environmental habitats are destroyed due to production purposes.
Toilet papers are made from plant fibers which are significantly cellulose. For example, trees provide 30% cellulose, while hemp plants can produce 85% cellulose.
Every year 28 million hectares of forest are cut down to meet the demand. Help reduce deforestation by switching your toilet paper to hemp toilet paper for the sake of the environment.
7. Environmentally Friendly
Hemp plants need very little water to grow. Besides, they do not need fertilizers or pesticides to grow. As a result, the soil and water are saved from pollution. Furthermore, as hemp toilet papers require minimum energy, water and chemicals from the beginning, they are cheaper to manufacture.
Additionally, being a sustainable crop, farming methods ensure that they do not drain all the soil nutrients.
8. High Cellulose
Bast fibers are used to manufacture toilet paper rolls. The bast fiber in hemp contains 55% to 77% cellulose content, while the wood pulp contains only 40-45%. This is more important because the basic plant part for manufacturing toilet paper is cellulose.
Using hemp toilet paper ensures more active ingredients from fewer plants.
9. Lower Impact on Animal Habitats
Traditional toilet papers need wood pulp for which the forests are cut down. The animal habitat is destroyed when the trees come down if a new habitat replaces it.
Because of the faster growing times of hemp, animals get less time to make permanent homes there. Therefore, when they are cultivated, they do not face a great loss.
10. Recyclable
Hemp paper can be recycled seven times which is only three times for paper from wood. Additionally, hemp harvests are ready in 4 months which the trees need 8-20 years.
Talking about the recycled toilet paper, I am not saying you would be using someone else’s used toilet paper; that sounds gross. However, other hemp based papers are recycled into toilet papers to reduce wastage. To illustrate: renewable office supplies and papers made of hemp are turned into hemp toilet papers after they are once used.
As hemp papers are more renewable than wood pulp, hemp paper (both new and recycled) is an environmentally friendly option.
Where Can You Buy Hemp Toilet Paper?
There are a variety of places to purchase hemp, but unfortunately, in the US, it’s rather difficult to find any hemp toilet paper because-
- The government has restricted the growth of hemp on a larger scale for decades. Though there have been changes in recent years, the supply is still below the demand.
- Secondly, many other hemp-like supplements buy up most of the supplies, making large-scale production more difficult.
You can buy them online from Hempies toilet paper brand or Alibaba.
Many people complain about the Hempies brand, saying they are not 100% hemp and blend other sustainable materials. If you don’t find Hempies brand a reliable option, you can purchase your hemp toilet rolls from Alibaba.
Alternative to Hemp Toilet Paper
Now that hemp is a more environmentally friendly option, but this is also not available greatly. Don’t worry; fortunately, there is another sustainable alternative to hemp toilet paper: bamboo toilet paper.
Why bamboo paper? Because bamboo paper has many of the same benefits as hemp and they need fewer chemicals to process, which is why it makes an excellent alternative to hemp bathroom rolls.
Remember, when buying bamboo products make sure it is sustainably sourced, look for FSC-certified. Otherwise, this might be from places that were deforested for meeting the bamboo demand. Of course, you don’t want that.
Besides, bamboo grows 30 times faster than trees. So you don’t need to wait 8-20 years. Here are some recommended bamboo products:
Bim Bam Boo Organic Bamboo Toilet Paper Rolls
This is the first choice after hemp toilet papers. I have been ordering it for several months because of its sustainability and safe for allergy and irritation.
The material is sourced from a certified organic plantation, so you don’t have to worry about deforestation. They are 100% bamboo, tree-free and packaged in recycled cardboard. So don’t worry about the chemicals.
They do not contain any BPA, formaldehyde, chlorine-bleach and itchy glues. They are hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive areas. They are sustainable and perfect for outdoor adventures like camping or hiking and they do not pollute the soil.
Caboo Tree-Free Bamboo Toilet Paper
If Bim Bam Boo products are not available, the next option you can opt for is Caboo toilet paper. Unlike the Bim Bam Boo product, they are not 100% pure. Instead, Caboo toilet papers are made from bamboo and sugarcane.
It’s two-ply and has 300 sheets per roll. The only significant difference is that this comes in plastic packaging. But this is recycled plastic.
They are biodegradable and septic safe, suitable for all disposal systems, including marine sanitation systems. This product is gentle on the skin and does not have harmful chemicals like- BPA, chlorine, bleach etc.
WHOLEROLL Organic Bamboo Toilet Paper
If you need something stronger and durable than two-ply, you need this item on your list. The packs are slightly smaller, which might not be appropriate for larger households, but it has excellent quality and strength. This product is manufactured from organic sources.
However, they fit if you need something stronger. They are made from high-quality bamboo-3 ply strong. They are soft enough for skin but ranked #1 when it comes to strength.
This product contains no chemicals. The wrapping is made from trees. This can avoid allergy and safe for sensitive area use.
So if you’re looking for zero BPA, allergen free, vegan and soft but durable, then this is the best choice you can opt for.
Conclusion
When thinking of a sustainable and renewable option, hemp toilet papers are the best from all angles. But due to government restrictions and other problems, hemp is not grown on a large scale, so the required demand is not met to provide hemp toilet paper. As a result, they are not quite available.
Fortunately, hemp is not the only sustainable option. Bamboo toilet papers are also tree-free and they grow fast like hemp. Moreover, they do not need chemicals to make them soft as they are naturally soft. Therefore, if you fail to get hold of hemp toilet papers from Alibaba or Hempies, you can opt for bamboo toilet rolls.
Some of the toilet paper are also made from recycled paper from schools and offices. Save the environment by switching to green products.
