Green Options » toilet paper

Irish Students Asked to Bring Their Own Toilet Paper to School

Jennifer Lance — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:51:30 +0000

Tough economic times have caused one school in Ireland to ask students to bring their own toilet paper. Parents received the following request last week from principal Catherine O’Neill:

Dear parent, from time to time we will request your daughter to bring in a toilet roll to her class teacher. These rolls will be specifically for your daughter’s class and will be dispensed by the class teacher. We would also request that your daughter has tissues in her sack at all times.

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Paper Matters

Leslie Berliant — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:04:15 +0000

Paper appears to be high on the agenda of a number of organizations this week. It’s necessary. Paper is so ubiquitous – from tissues to toilet paper to memo pads to catalogs to the mess on your desk - that it is easy to forget, or perhaps more convenient to ignore, that paper manufacturing has significant environmental repercussions.

Paper production is the third largest contributor to climate change, the biggest source of deforestation and has a significant impact on water issues. It’s a dirty business, from the use of toxic chemicals and chlorine bleaches to clear cutting of forests like this one on the North Carolina Coast:

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Loo Poetry Can Help Fight Global Warming

Andrew Williams — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:39:49 +0000

A study has revealed that poems in the loo can help tackle global warming, through cutting toilet paper use by up to 20 per cent.

A team of Japanese researchers pasted ‘toilet poems’ at the eye-level of people sitting in cubicles. One poem read, “That paper will meet you only for a moment,” another said, “Fold the paper over and over and over again,” while another read simply, “Love the toilet.”

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Toilet Poems to Save Paper

Allison Boyer — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:57:16 +0000

One Japanese study shows that an eye-level poem on a poster in public bathroom cubicles can reduce the amount of toilet paper people use by up to 20%.

From Reuters:

“We asked ourselves what we could do for the environment in the toilet?” said Ryusuke Nagahara of the Japan Toilet Labo. “The answer is to save toilet paper and save water.”

I’m not sure why a short poem to read helps people use less toilet paper, but the study group is calling for the posters to be placed in 1000 restrooms across the country.

Picture via sxc.hu.

Shit Happens…

Simran Sethi — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000

Editor’s note: OK, we’re usually not so potty-mouthed, but, as you’ll see, it’s perfectly (and literally) appropriate this time around. We’re pleased to have Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh join us as guest contributors, and share with you their series on the surprising journeys of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Here’s a sneak peek at bathroom fun.

What you may not realize, cherie, is that whatever you flush down comes back around. Our waste fertilizes our fields and is pumped back into the waterways that are our major sources of drinking water. Let’s take the journey from toilet to tap, shall we? Oui oui. (We’re affecting French here for a touch of sophistication in a post centering on fecal matter.)

Americans use about 70 gallons of water indoors, every day. About three-quarters of that is used in the toilette—shower, bath, sink, crapper—and over one-quarter is used whisking away our waste. You can cut this water usage by making sure your toilet isn’t leaking, using a composting or low-flow toilet or even displacing the water in the tank with a brick or container filled with sand . Your toilet is not a trashcan, so save cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms for the basket, not the bowl.

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