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Choosing an eco-friendly toilet paper is one of the better sustainable swaps you can make in your household—the conventional toilet paper industry is one of the major contributors to deforestation. In fact, 27,000 trees are cut down every day to support the conventional toilet paper industry.
When you’re shopping for eco-friendly and sustainable products, you might also be trying to shop organic. This is usually a great way to go about lessening your impact on the environment, and buying safer products.
But if you’re looking for the best organic toilet paper, you won’t really find it! Conventional toilet paper is made out of virgin wood pulp, meaning the toilet paper industry is clear cutting virgin forests to supply the material. No chemical pesticides or fertilizers are used for virgin forests, so the organic cultivation process doesn’t apply to the industry.
If your intention is to find a toilet paper that doesn’t have any chemicals, pesticides, or fertilizers (as organic certifications typically guarantee), your best bet is a bamboo toilet paper. First off, bamboo is a much more eco-friendly material than virgin wood pulp. And, it’s naturally organic, just like virgin conifer forests. It doesn’t need pesticides or fertilizers to grow. Lots of companies will market their bamboo toilet paper as organic for that reason, but it’s really just a marketing tactic.
Luckily, there are lots of great bamboo-based options that can be your go-to if you’re looking for organic toilet paper.
Best Overall: Who Gives a Crap Bamboo Toilet Paper
BEST OVERALL
Who Gives a Crap Bamboo Toilet Paper
Who Gives a Crap is a new sustainable toilet paper company that offers both recycled paper toilet paper (which is our top pick for the best eco-friendly toilet paper) and bamboo toilet paper. If you’re looking for an organic toilet paper, meaning there’s no risk of pesticides or fertilizers every being used in the product, Who Gives a Crap’s bamboo toilet paper is your best choice.
The Premium 100% Bamboo Toilet Paper is a 3-ply, double length roll (at least 370 sheets) made from sustainably sourced bamboo. They source their bamboo from farmers who plant their crops on the borders of their small family farms. Importantly, the way Who Gives a Crap sources their bamboo toilet paper means that no large areas of land are clear cut to make way for the bamboo crops. Plus, it helps supplement the familys’ incomes. We love that you can read a lot about their manufacturing and shipping practices here.
We also love that Who Gives a Crap is a certified B Corp, and they donate 50% of their profits to improve sanitation in developing countries. And, with nearly 4,000 reviews for an average of 4.9 stars, this is one of the most loved “organic” toilet papers on the market.
what customers love
- Surprisingly soft and absorbent
- Decorative outside wrapping
what customers don’t love
- Some users report inconsistency in the softness between orders
Runner Up: Betterway
RUNNER UP
Betterway
Our runner up for bamboo toilet paper is Betterway, who is actually in the process of getting an organic certification so they can back their claims of having organic toilet paper.
Until then, they’re still a great 100% bamboo toilet paper made with Forest Stewardship Council certified bamboo, meaning their product comes from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits to the local region. There’s no inks, dyes, or scents, and it’s BPA-free and hypoallergenic. It’s also dyed white with elemental-free chlorine (ECF), which is a lot better for the environment and for human health.
Like Who Gives a Crap, Betterway’s bamboo toilet paper is a 3-ply roll with at least 360 sheets. They get over 4,200 reviews on Amazon, and have an average rating of 4.5 stars.
Betterway is also a climate neutral company, meaning they measure their carbon footprint and purchase carbon credits for projects within the Climate Neutral network to offset it.
what customers Love
- It’s structured and strong, but still soft (one reviewer even likes blowing his nose with it!)
- The dotted texture makes the toilet paper a lot more effective than most smooth textures
what customers don’t love
- Some people felt the texture added was too abrasive.
Other Great Organic, Bamboo Toilet Paper Options
If Who Gives a Crap or Betterway don’t do it for you, there are lots of other great bamboo options out there to fill your organic toilet paper needs. Here are some other brands we like.
No. 2
No.2
Bamboo Toilet Paper
No.2’s Bamboo Toilet Paper is an ink, dye, and fragrance free organic toilet paper made from 100% bamboo fiber. No.2 is considered Responsible Forestry Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), so you know that their bamboo harvesting practices are responsible, and they aren’t significantly damaging the environment and the livelihoods of the people around their farms.
The wrapping is made from 100% recycled paper, and comes in fun, stylish designs made with soy inks—making it a great organic toilet paper to leave out of the cabinet!
It gets really great reviews (over 1,000 5-stars), and customers say that it’s super strong, and doesn’t break or crumble easily.
Reel
Reel
Bamboo Toilet Paper
Reel is another 100% bamboo toilet paper that’s BPA-free and contains no dyes or fragrances. Importantly, they’re FSC certified, and all of their packaging is plastic free.
The Reel bamboo toilet paper is a 3-ply roll with 300 sheets (so it’s a little smaller than the rest of the options on the list). But it’s a well-loved organic option, with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Customers like that it’s a bit stronger than other bamboo toilet papers they’ve tried. You can also buy this toilet paper at Target, making it an easy option for a lot of shoppers who already get their home goods from Target.
Reel also gives back, supporting a mission to provide access to toilets to those in need. They partner with SOIL, an organization that provides toilets and transforms waste management in communities in Haiti.
Bippy Bamboo
Bippy Bamboo
Bamboo Toilet Paper
Bippy Bamboo’s organic bamboo toilet paper is soft, lint-free, biodegradable, and made with FSC certified bamboo. The colorful paper it’s wrapped in is made with FSC-certified paper, and adds a bright, fun splash to any bathroom decor.
Bippy’s 100% bamboo toilet paper is a 3-ply roll with 250 sheets. It’s a little smaller than other options on this list, but slightly more affordable than other toilet papers listed here.
Bippy is a women-owned business, and we love that they’re certified Carbon Neutral through their partnerships with Carbonfree. They neutralize 36 metric tons of carbon emissions from their shipping and operations by supporting reforestation and forest conservation projects.
Bippy Bamboo doesn’t have as many reviews as other brands on this list, but what they do have is really great. They get over 400 5-star reviews. Users love that it’s soft, strong, and the subscription program is easy to manage.
Cheeky Panda
Cheeky Panda
Bamboo Toilet Paper
Cheeky Panda’s Bamboo Toilet Paper is a great organic toilet paper made from bamboo that’s certified by the FSC. It’s also a certified vegan brand, which might seem unusual for the space, but a lot of conventional toilet paper products have animal-based gelatin and glues. It’s also a plastic-free brand that ships with 100% recycled materials.
It’s a 3-ply roll that has the characteristic strength and softness of bamboo toilet paper. They get over 1,200 reviews on Amazon, with an average rating of 4.3. Users find it surprisingly strong and absorbent.
We also love that Cheeky Panda is carbon neutral in partnership with The World Land Trust, where they rebuild forests in Vietnam and protect animal habitats.
Cloud Paper
Cloud Paper
Bamboo Toilet Paper
Cloud Paper offers 100% bamboo toilet paper from FSC certified bamboo grown from small bamboo farms in China. Their rolls are 100% chlorine-free (they bleach with a TCF method, a safer way to bleach toilet paper). They have no BPA, dyes, or synthetic fragrances, and their packaging is also recyclable and compostable.
We love that offset two times the amount of carbon generated from the manufacturing process to the shipping process. It’s also great that they disclose their supply chain, so we could understand exactly where and how their toilet paper is made.
Cloud Paper bamboo toilet paper gets good reviews, too (over 750 5-stars). Customers found that this bamboo toilet paper was a lot softer than other rolls they’ve tried, while still retaining the characteristic strength of bamboo toilet paper.
Organic Toilet Paper Buying Guide
There are a few things to consider when shopping for “organic” toilet paper. First, you need to understand what “organic” really means in this context, and then what you should look for instead. Here’s how to go about your search to find a brand.
Does “Organic” Toilet Paper Really Exist?
Good for you for trying to shop organic. Generally speaking, organic products and goods are better for the environment. What organic really means and which certifications to trust is up for debate and depends on the product category, but typically organic production and manufacturing produces fewer emissions and less chemical waste. It’s also safer for humans to not consume or use things made with pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals.
But in the context of organic toilet paper, “organic” doesn’t really mean much. Toilet paper is inherently organic, as it’s made from virgin wood pulp. That means that conventional toilet paper is original sourced from naturally (read: not planted or farmed) occurring forests, so no fertilizers, pesticides, or any other chemicals are used to grow the trees used for toilet paper material.
But that doesn’t mean you should just use conventional toilet paper. Many studies have shown the impact the conventional toilet paper industry has on the environment, and it isn’t good. It’s a major contributor to deforestation, which causes a lot of environmental harm—like habitat destruction, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas release.
So if you’re looking for organic toilet paper but don’t want to support the conventional toilet paper industry, bamboo toilet paper is your best option—bamboo is a crop that doesn’t require fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals to grow.
Plus, it’s a lot more environmentally friendly than conventional toilet paper. Most importantly, it grows incredibly quickly, and doesn’t require much water or high quality soil. Whereas the average tree takes a year to grow one food, bamboo can grow that in one hour. Bamboo products produce 30% fewer emissions than products made from virgin wood, according to the NRDC.
Another Great (Potentially Better) Option for Toilet Paper
If you want to go for the most environmentally friendly toilet paper option, recycled paper toilet paper is your best bet.
Recycled toilet paper is made by soaking paper in water, removing the ink, bleaching and sanitizing it, and then drying it. Recycled paper can be made of pre- or post-consumer materials (or more often, a combination of both).
According to a study conducted by the NRDC, the recycled paper manufacturing process produces one-third the amount of greenhouse gases than that of conventional toilet paper. It also doesn’t contribute to any deforestation or natural habitat destruction—a common criticism of bamboo toilet paper.
All in, recycled toilet paper is a better eco-friendly and sustainable swap. However, you can’t guarantee the origin of the materials used in the paper that’s recycled into the toilet paper, so there may have been some chemicals involved in the original manufacturing process. For that reason, it’s tough to know if you’re really buying organic toilet paper if you go the recycled paper route.
Our Research Process
We first started our search for organic toilet paper by understanding the ins-and-outs of how toilet paper is actually made. That prompted us to research the certifications associated with the industry, and led us down the path of what “organic” really meant in the context of toilet paper.
Once we landed on bamboo toilet paper being the best fit if you’re shopping for organic toilet paper, we moved onto the brands. We looked for brands that are FSC certified and use no BPAs, chemical dyes, and other potentially harmful ingredients. We also looked at other efforts the brand is taking to reduce their impact, especially looking for certified B Corps or climate neutral certified businesses.
And when it comes to toilet paper, we can’t overlook quality. This is a sustainable swap where you really don’t want to sacrifice quality. For that reason, we only considered brands that have incredible customer reviews so you can feel confident in the quality of the product.
- Bim Bam Boo
- Whole Roll
- Betterway
- Who Gives a Crap
- No. 2
- Bippy Bamboo
- Cloud Paper
- Cheeky Panda
- Caboo Bamboo
- Bum Boo
- NooTrees
- PlantPaper
- Reel
- Clear Rear
- Seek Bamboo
Check out more of our organic favorites, like the best organic toothpaste, best organic tampons and pads, and best organic soaps.
Sources
- https://us.fsc.org/en-us/certification
- The Betterway Customer Support Team
- https://www.gobetterway.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions
- https://heybippy.com/pages/about
- https://cloudpaper.co/pages/impact
- https://www.chooseveganism.org/vegan-toilet-paper-uk
- https://www.marketwatch.com/story/yes-organic-food-is-purer-but-is-it-eco-friendly-too-2020-08-14
- https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jennifer-skene/toilet-paper-driving-climate-crisis-every-flush
- https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/effects-of/deforestation
