More and more companies are offering tree-free, eco-friendly alternatives to regular toilet paper as well as napkins, paper towels, and other tissue paper products. Many of these eco-conscious companies also choose not to use chlorine, a toxic chemical used to bleach paper that pollutes the environment and can cause cancer.
If we all switched to using tree-free toilet paper and other tissue products, we could:
  • Stop the deforestation of an estimated 99 million trees annually
  • Reduce global warming
  • Save tons of water used for manufacturing
  • Save energy used for manufacturing
  • Reduce the pollution of our air and waterways (rivers, lakes, oceans, etc.)
  • Preserve the habitats of countless plant and animal species, not to mention our own!
Did you know?
Toilet paper alone destroys 27,000 trees per day globally!
Ordinary toilet paper contains mercury, dioxin, BPA, and BPS, which are chemicals associated with environmental pollution and health problems such as cancer.
Tree-free toilet paper can be made with different materials. Often, it’s a combination of sugarcane bagasse (the fibrous byproduct left after extracting the sugar) and bamboo, which happens to create some of the best paper on the market because it’s:
  • Soft - softer than most recycled paper products
  • Strong - bamboo and sugarcane fibers are both very strong
  • Biodegradable - bamboo and sugarcane fibers quickly decompose back into the earth
  • Sustainable & rapidly growable - both bamboo and sugarcane are grasses and grow fast: bamboo can grow 100 inches per month, sugarcane grows 12 inches per month, whereas timber grows only 2 inches per month; bamboo doesn’t need to be replanted as the cut stem grows back in a few months
  • Virgin fibers - bamboo and sugarcane products don’t require heavy bleaching of inks and dyes as recycled paper products do
  • Eco - sugarcane bagasse is widely available but in many cases discarded and burned, releasing pollutants into the air. So using sugarcane bagasse for paper prevents wasting and burning.


Bamboo (above)
and sugarcane stalks
Some companies, such as Nimbus Eco, state that they grow the bamboo and sugarcane on farms and harvest by hand, thus reducing waste and carbon emissions. One award-winning manufacturer in China, Tralin, uses straw from harvested grain crops, which would otherwise be discarded.

Supreme Master Ching Hai said that in the future, we can certainly make use of gardening and pruning leftovers or cut grass or wheat, etc., instead of burning them.

Going tree-free is surely better for the environment (and our health, too)!
Here are some of the companies we know that offer treeless paper products.
Feel free to look for more in your local area.
Shandong Tralin Group (China)
http://en.tralin.com
Made with: straw pulp
Unbleached		Caboo (Canada and USA)
www.caboopaper.com
Made with: sugarcane bagasse and bamboo
Use hydrogen peroxide, a non-chlorine bleach
Kcrown Green Choice (Australia)
www.kcrown.com.au/greenchoice/index.html
Made with: sugarcane bagasse and bamboo
Use of chlorine is unknown		Nimbus Eco (available on Amazon.com)
www.nimbuseco.com
Made with: sugarcane bagasse and bamboo
Chlorine-free bleaching
Ology (USA; sold only at Walgreens stores)
www.walgreens.com/q/ology
Made with: sugarcane bagasse and bamboo
Use hydrogen peroxide, a non-chlorine bleach		Green2 (USA and Canada)
www.truegreen2.com
Made with: sugarcane bagasse and bamboo
Use hydrogen peroxide, a non-chlorine bleach
Kora (available on Amazon.com)
http://korabrand.com
Made with: bamboo
Chlorine-free bleaching		Green Soft - Saved a Tree (Australia)
www.savedatree.com.au
Made with: bamboo, straw, reed, cotton
Use of chlorine is unknown
…. Plus more!
Bleaching Terms to Know
TCF (Total Chlorine Free)
No chlorine or related compounds were used.
Common TCF bleach: hydrogen peroxide.		PCF (Process Chlorine Free)
Recycled paper that was rebleached without any chlorine; however, the original paper may have been bleached with chlorine.		ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free)
Although no chlorine gas was used, chlorine-related compounds were used, reducing but not fully eliminating toxins like dioxin.
We thank Supreme Master Ching Hai for advising us to share this information and for encouraging us through her Message on Eco-Alternatives to Using Paper (click here to read).

May we all do our part to protect the precious planet and make it a more livable, beautiful home for future generations!
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