Super-soft toilet paper flushing Canada’s boreal forest down the toilet: critics

Canwest News Service - Many Canadians believe that when it comes to their behinds, only the softest and strongest toilet paper will do.

But some environmentalists are raising a stink that the public’s determination to use the fluffiest and most comfortable bathroom tissue is contributing to climate change by literally flushing some of Canada’s most pristine and ancient forests down the toilet.

The vast majority of bathroom tissue is made from virgin wood fibre, meaning that new trees are cut down to produce the millions of rolls of toilet paper, says John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada.

According to Bennett, the biggest source of trees used for the production of toilet paper is Canada’s boreal forest — often called an environmental wonder because of its vastness and ability to naturally capture global-temperature-raising carbon dioxide.

Additional Excerpt:

The boreal forest, described by Natural Resources Canada as being “draped like a green scarf across the shoulders of North America” is the natural habitat of countless animal and plant species. It makes up 35 per cent of Canada’s total land mass, and spreads from the Yukon Territory across the country to Newfoundland and Labrador, reaching all the way to the tree line at the edge of the Arctic tundra along its northern border.

And the ancient trees — some hundreds of years old — are being cleared for the production of disposable paper that is used for the messiest of jobs, says Bennett.