Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
I was at my friend's apartment the other day and was kind of shocked when I went to use her bathroom. No toilet paper, just a stack of multicolored cloths in a basket that I'm guessing I was supposed to use to wipe myself. (I decided to hold it until I got back to my place.) I'm so grossed out. Are people really doing this? Isn't it unsanitary? I was too embarrassed to ask her...
-Whitney
Yes, people are doing this, though at present the practice of employing reusable cloths in lieu of toilet paper -- euphemistically referred to as family wipes or family cloth -- seems relegated to what marketing gurus would call the "dark green" consumer. (Though there's another color I can think of that might be more appropriate in this case.)
I do find it somewhat ironic that new parents using cloth diapers for their baby are usually met with praise: Oh, wow -- you guys must be really dedicated to the environment. But transfer the concept of reusable bathroom products to adults, and the response is one of universal horror: You're going to do what? With what? Even the crunchiest of my granola friends couldn't stifle a grimace when I asked them if they would consider swapping out disposable toilet paper for the washable kind. I guess the difference is that with cloth diapers, squeamish folks can always employ a diaper service; with family wipes, you're the one doing the washing.
Which brings me to your next question: Is the whole process of collecting and washing these wipes unsanitary? Not if you employ the method used by most family wipe families, which is to use the cloths for urinating only. (This still helps cut down on paper waste, since the majority of bathroom visits are of the first priority.) Since normal urine is sterile, there's little chance of encountering nasty bugs like E. coli later in the laundry room. But using family wipes for ahem, your more serious matters can also be perfectly hygienic, provided you separate them from your other laundry (your kitchen towels, for instance) before washing them in hot water and drying them in the dryer. If your kids are still in diapers of the cloth variety, all the better -- you can save water by washing the wipes and the diapers together.
So is it really worth the effort, from an environmental standpoint? If you're contemplating making the switch from the three-ply, quilted, extra-soft fluffy stuff to tree-free TP, then the benefits are clear: At present, more than 98 percent of the toilet paper sold in the United States is made from virgin wood (note: that statistic will improve soon, thanks to last year's Kimberly-Clark/Greenpeace agreement), which is destroying our forests and contributing to climate change, since forests are the most effective tool we have for sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And while some may argue that washing cloth toilet wipes wastes water, it's nothing compared with the pulp and paper business, which is one of the world's largest industrial consumers of fresh water.
But can't you eliminate a lot of that waste and pollution by switching to 100 percent recycled toilet paper? Yeah, you can, which is the solution I'll be sticking with as long as I live in a one-bathroom apartment (no surprises for guests here!) with a community washer/dryer. It's not a perfect solution, of course; recycled toilet paper still takes energy and resources to produce, not to mention the fuel cost to transport it from factory to store. But perhaps the more compelling case to be made for tossing the TP is an economic one: The average family of four is just flushing away cash, to the tune of $140 a year. A pack of a dozen family wipes from Wallypop will set you back about $11; you can also make your own for free out of old clothing.
If you do decide to take the plunge, mind your Eco Etiquette: Don't try to green toilet train guests (i.e., put regular -- or at least recycled -- toilet paper in the guest bathroom); keep your own toilet area neatly organized by designating a basket for clean cloths and a pail with a lid for dirty ones; and retire especially worn wipes to the compost pile, not the trash can (after washing them, of course). Bottoms up!
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After hundreds of years, it musta been kinda funky...
Flushing Forests down the drain. By all means use recycled paper...don't know if I can get "behind" the wipes yet myself by recycled? no other choice.
http://www.livinggreenmag.com/archives/climate_nature/toilet_paper.html
I researched bidets and other options for number 2 but all seem rather gross to me. In India they use something called a "lota" which is like a watering can with a spout and they pour the water down their crack while "assisting" with the other hand... Really gross! But they all insist that it's more hygenic than toilet paper!
But just switching to "pee rags" means that I now use less than a roll of tp per month, which is a big savings, both in terms of money and the environment.
BTW, pulpwood comes from farmed trees, not valuable first-growth timber.
Not necessarily. Depends on the local forest conditions.
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/tissue.asp
One of my kids was allergic to baby wipes, so I used wash cloths on him and his little brother all the time. So this kind of makes sense to me.
(I'm kidding, I'm kidding.... But seriously, I'll stick to recycled)
I bought one mostly out of curiosity. The first few times I sort of felt like a fumbling 12-year-old again, but once I got the hang of it I think it's much better than tampons. NO leaks and you can leave it in for 12 hours! Eliminates the need to coat your panties in plastic liners too... which is nice for numerous reasons.
Do a web search on what the Romans supposedly used for reusable TP.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs//archives/40088
Europe and Latin America has them, why not in the US?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1160707/Introducing-high-tech-paperless-toilet-leaves-clean-dry-tearing-trees.html
Supposedly, 70 percent of Tokyo households already own one!