We recently noticed an interesting article about a company making toilet paper out of recycled sugar cane stalks. It said recycled toilet paper is more expensive than the stuff made straight from trees (“because the carbon footprint is huge”) which got us thinking about recycled paper in general and loo paper in particular.
So we sent the staff in the Oily Rag Research and Product Testing Department off to our local supermarket to see what they could find out. They certainly found a lot of different types of toilet tissue, so they stuck with 2-ply rolls to make things a little easier.
The cheapest was a supermarket branded pack of 12 for $3.99 or about 33 cents each. The most expensive was a very nice cotton paper, lovely to touch, with marine pictures which we are sure makes for a better little-room experience. It was 80 cents a roll.
Those who were a little less concerned about the quality of the paper itself but wanted pictures anyway, would have to pay 58 cents a roll.
The surprising find, was, just as the article had said, toilet paper made from recycled materials did cost more than the regular types- it was about 66 cents a roll. So, here’s another example where those who want to save the earth will have to pay more to do so, about twice as much more in the case of toilet paper.
As a general rule, if you are paying more than 40 cents a roll then you may be paying more than you need to. For those who want to get really technical there are about 230 pieces to a roll, so if a person uses… well, you work it out.