One million trees are cut down every day for toilet roll.
In our new TV advert, you will have heard the shocking statistic that one million trees are cut down every day for toilet roll.
In fact, 1m trees per day is a conservative estimate.
Globally the average person uses 127 toilet rolls a year* amounting to 42million tonnes of toilet roll per year**.
On average a tree generates 59.96kg pulp so just over 700m trees are needed for the world’s current annual toilet paper consumption if all of this was made from virgin pulp, or 1.91m trees every day***.
While some alternative materials are used, like recycled paper or bamboo, Kimberley Clark estimate that only 25% of the global market is recycled so 1m trees daily is a low estimate. In the US, the biggest market for toilet roll consumption, less than 2% of the market is recycled****. While bamboo is also growing fast, it still makes up a small proportion of the global market.
Serious Tissues are made from 100% recycled paper, so no trees are cut down to make them – and we plant trees with every sale.
Serious Tissues have planted 1.7million trees across nine countries including the UK, Indonesia, Nepal, Madagascar, Mozambique and Kenya. They currently plant the tree equivalent of six Hyde Parks every single week. (c.4k trees in Hyde Park***** and we’re planting over 24k each week).
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* https://www.statista.com/chart/15676/cmo-toilet-paper-consumption/
** Based on 2021 population figures.
*** https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IOBDcixSgD5Lgz2gT3UmPb0i4EIvI4bs/view
**** https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/fight-climate-change-use-recycled-toilet-paper-and-less-of-it-1.1217283
***** https://www.hortweek.com/hyde-parks-trees-worth-173m-benefits/arboriculture/article/1465058