Changing our Tree Planting Impact

We've always been serious about making a difference, and today, we're excited to share some positive changes to our impact model. We believe that evolving our approach is crucial to creating a brighter, greener future, all while keeping our toilet rolls affordable and eco-friendly.

Why the Change?

In the past, we proudly planted one tree for every roll of toilet paper sold. It was a simple and effective way to contribute to reforestation. However, we hit a hurdle when tree planting prices surged by a staggering 500%.

One of our founding principles of Serious Tissues was that simple eco switches shouldn’t break the bank. We’re still cheaper sheet-for-sheet than big-name brands you find in the supermarket.

This combined with the importance of impact “additionalities” has led us to have a rethink. (But what on Earth are "additionalities," you ask? It's all about creating comprehensive environmental improvements, like habitat restoration, community support, and biodiversity enhancement.)

A Mixed Approach to Impact

Moving forwards we’re going to be investing in multiple projects, not just tree planting. We know that impact numbers can sometimes feel abstract. That's why we're shifting our focus to measuring our impact primarily in total carbon as a proportion of your carbon footprint. Then our website will provide detailed breakdowns of our impact, showcasing the specific projects we're investing in, giving you the detail.

Partnering for Transparency

Starting in the new year, we're teaming up with Veritree to offer you a website dashboard where you can see the sites and data of all our trees planted, alongside other projects like kelp farms and ocean plastic recovery. It's where you can really dive deep into the "additionality" of our efforts.

But What About Your Toilet Roll?

Our toilet paper will continue to plant trees, including mangrove in Kenya, trees in Britain through the Tree Council, and agroforestry in projects in Africa. Despite the price increases, tree planting remains the most cost-effective way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

We're also investing in renewables infrastructure in the UK. Partly because the reduction in carbon through avoiding using fossil fuels adds up year on year, and partly because this sort of investment is desperately needed for this country to meet its 2035 and 2050 Net Zero goals.

And finally, we're putting our resources into interesting projects like kelp farms, which capture carbon while benefiting ocean acidity and biodiversity. There’s a joke to be had here about “kelping” fight climate change but that’s beneath someone as clever as you.

The average person in the UK produces between 10 and 11.7 tonnes of CO2 a year.

With the blend of approaches above, each box of 36 toilet rolls will sequester over 1.2 tonnes of CO2.

So each delivery would sequester over 11% of your total carbon footprint for the year.

The average Serious customer gets a box every 2.5 months.

So then our average subscriber would be offsetting over 50% of their annual carbon footprint just through simply their toilet roll choice.

At Serious Tissues, we're committed to keeping our planet green and your wallets happy. These positive changes in our impact model are just the beginning of a brighter future.

Greenly yours,

Serious Tissues Team