Okay, I'll admit I'm a latecomer to this simple help-the-earth tip. And I'm also hesitant to write a post that includes the words "bathroom" and "virgin" in it, but here goes.
We're a household that has three females in it. As my husband often comments, "Man, women go through a lot of toilet paper." And if that toilet paper is not recycled, it uses virgin wood, is bleached with harmful chemicals, and contributes to yet more landfill when we don't recycle the cardboard rolls at the end.
Turns out that if every household in the United States used one--just one--roll of recycled toilet paper, we could save something like half a million trees. I can hardly put my arms around that--how much is half a million trees? But one roll. Just one. Not five rolls a week, every week, every year. But, of course, do the math for those weeks and months and years and you'll see that this one little change has the potential to be truly earth-changing.
And those cardboard rolls? Recyclable, of course, in my weekly blue bin. But they also make great bird feeders when smeared with peanut butter and dipped in bird seeds. And fabulous instruments for the Open Garden Rhythm Circle when filled with dried rice or beans and secured with tape on the ends.
Even more importantly? This little fact about the one roll of toilet paper flings the window of my imagination open yet again. If one roll can make such a difference, what else can we do that we have not yet thought of? What other opportunities are we missing as a society? How creative, and innovative, can we be?
Ah, a challenge . . .
Interested in buying your one roll (or more)? Check out this site for brand comparisons.
And, of course, I can't show a picture of a Seventh Generation product without, once again, mentioning how much I love that quote on their products from the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy:
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."
Hmmm. I didn't even use the word "bathroom." Whoops. Just did.
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2 comments:
Lets have a "once club" where eg this week everyone buys recycled toilet paper, next week everyone buys organic flour or a cloth shopping bag or sows seeds of 1 vegetable etc etc. Why? Bacause we can do this !Imagine how we could influence things world-wide. People could join up and next year we could get everyone to get 5 more people to join. Go Pattie!
That's an interesting idea. If you have ever read "The Green Book" its a collection of interesting facts and figures about how small changes can add up to a big impact.
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